Moments of dignity, fortitude and restraint in this week's protests
By now you've probably seen all the most intense and shocking moments during protests. But did you see this? Actual footage of protesters just walking. This march happened to be in Waco, Texas, but we found lots of remarkably unremarkable video of largely peaceful protests across the nation. From small towns like Wenatchee, Washington — to big cities like Newark, New Jersey, where there were no arrests — we saw punches thrown mostly at the sky — and outrage channeled mostly into chants.
We saw a lot of police doing nothing wrong and a lot of protesters doing everything right.
In Los Angeles, they took the notion of a "peaceful" protest to a whole new lotus — doing yoga — protest sign in-hand. In Houston, some marched by horseback. While on Maui, they gathered on surfboards at sunset.
And so it was, in their own way, in all 50 states, people of all colors joined together — often by the thousands — or in this case, by herself. Eighty-year-old Leta Austin Foster was the only one to march in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, where a police officer cited her for not drinking enough fluids and gave her a water bottle.
And those are just some of the moments that have gone largely unreported this week, moments of dignity, fortitude and restraint. Still, no single moment can sum up the wild week that was, whether our nation devolved or evolved will lie in the eye of the beholder — but no matter what your takeaway, I believe you will find hope in this last scene.
Newark, New Jersey — a guy with a baseball bat — seems like he's about to bash a window, when out of nowhere a flock of better angels swoops in to give him a hug and a second chance.
A hug and a second chance — a good first step.
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