“Small Victories” . I took this photo a few weeks after taking to the streets in Richmond with brothers & sisters. White, black, gay, trans, republican, democrat, old, young. People that knew exactly why they were there & people trying to discover that reason. We marched miles. Peacefully. Justly. Respectfully. We shared conversations, thoughts + disagreements with one another. I ran into @justiceaddwater & walked along side him. We reached Monument Ave & quickly realized we were being “herded” to this point. There were fully armed & armored police officers on the left & right of the round-about this monument sits at. I thought to myself “why are they here?” Why were these officers here, when they should have been actually doing their jobs, protecting the likes of the local stores & shops that were being desecrated as we stood there. In the midst of this thought, 7 police suvs came speeding down the north corridor of the round-about. They were filled with officers again, armed to the teeth, who immediately hopped out, drew weapons & laid down in a prone position, aiming their weapons directly at myself, Justice & the few others who were in front. I felt the hair on my neck stand up, ears burning & genuinely thought for a second I was dead. It appeared to me these police had live ammo loaded in their assault rifles, but I could be wrong. The air was calm & both sides were completely silent. Within a split second, tear gas canisters were fired at the location we were standing at on the monument. No warning. No “go home”. Nothing. We were “fired upon” about half a hour early, in regards to the curfew that was implemented. The was the night before the mayor called a town hall meeting in which he had planned to apologize to protesters for this sly action. But no one went. Why would we go to yet another location to be herded like stock to only be abused by the unreasonable power of the RPD? Trust has been destroyed & I think the story that not just myself, but millions others can tell now on the other side of our experience is form fitting to a multitude of situations in our Country. It is grand, but we must continue to punch up. Small Victories.