Jack McCrossin

Professor Stefano Bloch

GEOG 150
12/13/20
Time to Wake Up

Growing up in Northern Virginia, ten minutes out from Washington DC, has been known

to be one of the most diverse areas in the east coast. My high school was almost perfectly split

between ethnicity and had the widest variety of student’s countries of origins. Growing up there I

have been immersed in dozens of different cultures and nationalities. Living here as an

individual one can also clearly see many racial inequalities and how crime can be affected

neighborhoods and certain racial groups. A certain event that happened recently not just in the

U.S. but across the nation was the George Floyd protests or as some people would say are the

“riots”. I attended these protests, not necessarily to participate but to witness history happening.

Many of my close friends had all different perspectives on this and many other attended in

support. What I witnessed at some of these were times of beautiful peaceful protest, where

personal friends I knew would get up and talk to hundreds of people with powerful words. But

on the other side I knew many people who used this cause to loot stores and fight other

protestors. Many of this crime had to do based off race, culture, society, and policing this is a

huge problem that we are facing today.

Chapter 1: Attendance

It was around late May when the world heard the news of the death of George Floyd.

Everyone around me were watching the protests take place in Minneapolis and how they were

turning into more than peaceful protest and the rise of police brutality. It was then about two

days later that my friend, Jon, was showing me videos of the protest right outside the white

house, only just 20 minutes away from where we lived. I started to see more and more people

posting on social media that they were attending the protest in the city from all different places

and vast ethnicities. It was then Jon and I decided that we want to experience this because this

could possibly be an important event in American history. “This could be the start of something

big” we thought. But when we got there it was a lot more than I ever expected it to be.

Chapter 2: Hot and Heavy

As Jon and I arrived on the day of what I believe was the second day of protesting, May

30th, 2020, it started as I would expect, protestors from all over the region were marching and

chanting. Many of my friends from my high school were there supporting the Black Lives Matter

movement. Something that stood out and what really shocked and inspired me was when I saw

one of my good friends from high school, Natnal, who was usually a quiet kid, standing on top of

a car with a megaphone in front of hundreds of people giving a heartfelt speech about how

change is necessary. It all seemed like a nice start to until things changed fast. Many protestors

were getting violent with police officers calling them names and throwing things as it went both

ways with police officers responding back with violence and aggression. I remember I could see

protestors throwing full water bottles at officers who were just standing there doing their job. So,

as tension started to rise so did the violence.

Chapter 3: Violence Erupts

It was starting to get late in the night and the tension between protestors and officers was

on the rise dramatically. There was a curfew emplaced to get citizens back in their homes, but

this did not phase the many angry people. Many people in this group were happy to be with

fellow protestors and started to form a mob mentality and almost a hatred for every single police

officer. Eventually, protestors started to get too aggressive with riot shield officers and out of

nowhere and almost no warning Jon and I heard loud bangs! As we look over, we see cops from

different sides of the streets throwing flash bangs and tear gas into these giant crowds of people.

Protestors just standing there not harming anyone were being pepper sprayed and hit with rubber

bullets. In efforts to put an end the protest and police obeying their orders like this it ended up

only fueling more anger in these protestors.

Chapter 4: Destruction

After this failed attempt to disperse the protestors things got out of control fast. There

were crowds across the city, not trying to protest but trying to just destroy. I remember Jon and I

saw hundreds of people, mostly younger people around the age of 17-22, causing the most

damage. I witnessed people breaking into anything they could. Apple stores looted. Subway

stores looted. Even small private owned businesses looted. Police cars were burning on the

streets and places were being set on fire. No one was safe from these protestors. Protestors were

stealing, arguing, and fighting among themselves. Things turned to chaos faster than anyone

could have predicted. Besides all the violence and chaos what really stood out to me was when

me and my friend walked around the national mall and witnessed national monuments graffitied

and vandalized. This really showed the anger in the people’s minds as they spray painted words

across the WWII monument, the Lincoln memorial and just about half of the city.
Chapter 5: Aftermath

After attending these protests for roughly two days and nights we experienced things we

thought we would never see. Walking through Washington DC about a couple days later when

protest and riots were dying down. It was still apparent how much damage was caused in the

city. Stores across the city were still boarded up and graffitied and people trying to repair their

businesses. But this protest caused effects more than just the actions in the city. Coming back

home to my diverse city of Alexandria, Virginia, many people’s perspectives changed. I started

to see a divide in between old friends because of their racial backgrounds. Childhood friends

faded because of their race. Social media turned aggressive; friends were being attacked online

for their viewpoints. I remember after all these events my incredibly good friend Tyler, a black

male, and I went to get food and were given dirty looks for walking in together by other

customers, from both black and white people. It was sad to see the way race was affecting

everyone’s relationships with people and the divide in society.

Throughout this whole timeline I learned a lot about the power of protest and policing. It

was scary to see but also interesting how you could find people with pure hatred for one another

when not even knowing one another on a personal level. What happened to George Floyd was a

terrible thing that almost all people can agree on, and protest are good for change, and policing is

necessary at times. But when this is taking to the level of extremity that these protests were, this

can call for chaos. It was amazing to see that so many people I met at the protest were passionate

about the cause. Talking to other protestors many of their beliefs were that “I am with my

people, we are strong.” Many believed that you needed to break the rules to make a difference.

Protest have been a common thing in African American history from the Civil Rights Movement

in the 60’s and the race riots in the 90’s to now the Black Lives Matter protest. It is now 2020
and there is still racism and social inequality across the United States, but things are changing for

the better. This country was founded out of a revolution from being oppressed by a higher power,

therefore it is amazing for people to be able to have the right to speak for what they believe in to

make a difference in society. Growing up in such a diverse community I feel blessed that I could

immerse and learn so many different cultures and how their thoughts on about everything that

was occurring. Everyone has their own ideology on the situation that was on hand. I learned that

it is best to close your mouth every once and a while and listen to what other people have to say

because you can learn a thing or two. Policing in America is the biggest discussion at hand

because they are vital for society to be safe but need to be in a controlled nonracially biased

manner. When power is given it can be abused and that is what many people feel is happening

today. Police brutality has been apparent in the media and they should not get away with unfair

treatment. Police officers are humans as well, I do not support everything the police did, but I

sympathize with many of them as they were doing their jobs trying to keep it under control.

These protest that turned into “riots” really sent a message of anger to society. It showed that if

the people are treated unfairly and abused that they will do everything in their power to fight

back. But is violence the correct route to all this? I wish I had the answer. Even though

relationships were loss from this societal revolution I witnessed knew ones being made and old

ones being even more cherished. A lot of good came out of these protests and a lot of bad. I think

that it is time for America to wake up and stop the hatred. Racism has no place in America, it

should not matter about the color of your skin or your culture, we all bleed red just like any other

human being.

Jack McCrossin