Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam used his regular coronavirus briefing on Tuesday to address the protests over George Floyd’s death, and gave significant time to several black leaders to share their thoughts and experiences.
“Our country is in a moment of turmoil and we have to talk about it,” Mr. Northam said Tuesday.
The governor said the death of George Floyd — a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes — is not a new heart break.
He noted Breonna Taylor, a black woman who police killed in Louisville, Kentucky, in March and Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who a former officer killed in Georgia in February.
“The protests that we have been seeing are for them and because of a system that continues to allow this to happen,” Mr. Northam said.
His comments came after a weekend of protests and rioting over Floyd’s killing and a day after federal authorities used tear gas to disperse peaceful protesters from the grounds of an Episcopal church in the District, where police arrested more than 300 people Monday night for violating a curfew and committing acts of burglary and rioting.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday resisted calls Tuesday to cancel the 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew, which was scheduled to end Wednesday morning.
“We saw people leaving to be compliant with the curfew, and when that happens, that allows the police to focus on the people bent on breaking the law and destruction,” Miss Bowser said at a press conference.
Most of Monday night’s arrests occurred at Judiciary Square, on the 1500 block of Swann Street and at the intersection of 17th and I streets NW, said Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham.
He said there was significantly less damage Monday night than on previous evenings. Two officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries, one police vehicle was set on fire, and some businesses had windows smashed and exteriors marred by graffiti, he added.
On Tuesday, storefronts near the White House were boarded up, the Treasury Department and other buildings nearby were tagged with graffiti, and public areas around and across the street from the White House were blocked off with fencing.
More than 200 protesters gathered on H Street NW with signs, including Caleb Jordan, a college student from Oxon Hill, and Patrice Pereira of Mount Rainier.
Ms. Pereira said that she was protesting for the mothers of black children and that she is afraid for her own son.
“I have a black son who is going to Boston College to become an attorney, but all that people see is a black boy,” she said. “They don’t see his potential.”
Mr. Jordan said he hasn’t been able to sleep recently and when he does sleep racism appears in his nightmares. He had a dream the other night that he was trying to help someone escape from the police, and ended up being trapped. He wakes up the next morning to see what he dreamt happening on the news.
In Bethesda, several hundred people gathered at the Connie Morella Library on Tuesday afternoon for a protest led by student organizers.
Leslie Hinkson said she was concerned that hate speech incidents in Bethesda schools and on young people’s social media accounts are on the rise.
“The testimony that you heard today from these young people should make you all — should make us all — question whether black lives matter in Bethesda,” said Ms. Hinkson, who is black. “There is a link between racist graffiti and the murder of black people in this country, and if you think that’s a stretch then you are part of the problem.”
Meanwhile in Richmond, an angry crowd shouted down Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Tuesday after police lobbed tear gas at a group of peaceful demonstrators during a George Floyd protest.
Several hundred people gathered outside City Hall, chanting “FIRE THEM!” and repeatedly drowning out Mr. Stoney as he apologized and promised that the officers involved will face disciplinary action.
Video posted to social media of the Monday night incident shows a line of police launching tear gas toward a group of protesters, who appeared to be yards away from the officers and peacefully gathered on the grass near the statue.
χ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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