by Julia Pierrepont III
LOS ANGELES, June 3 (Xinhua) -- "We need to work for real change -- and with our white allies," George Tunis, an African American film writer and producer, said to Xinhua when participating in Tuesday's protests in Los Angeles against the death of African American George Floyd due to police brutality.
It was the eighth straight day of nationwide demonstrations over this tragic incident.
Called "Blackout Tuesday," a protest initiated by the music industry over Floyd's death on Tuesday soon spread well beyond record labels and musicians, with actors, sports teams, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary people of all races joining protests across the nation, by both protesting online and marching on streets.
On social media around the world, many have chosen to replace their profile photos with a plain black image, in a show of solidarity with African Americans and making a plea for racial equality and justice.
"I was out there, marching," protester Sarah Hamil told Xinhua. The young, white nurse living in Los Angeles said, "Our protests were peaceful."
The vast majority of demonstrations across the country have been peaceful, with isolated incidents of violence and looting in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called for a public curfew to keep the situation from escalating, saying in a tweet, "We respect every Angeleno's right to protest, but violence and vandalism hurts all. Let's remember why we march, protect each other, and bring a peaceful end to a painful night."
Noting that there are violent protesters across the country, Tunis, also a graduate of the prestigious Emerson College, who is doing a documentary on an African American artist, stressed that more people, including tens of thousands of black, white, Hispanic and others, demonstrated peacefully to protest against the racial disparity that still exists in this country.
At first, the entire nation was talking about George Floyd and the changes needed to stop racial discrimination, but then, "with the first torched car and looted store, in the blink of an eye, we are suddenly all talking about black violence -- again," he said.
He said he was concerned that many Americans let overheated emotions and hate dictate their responses.
"The actions of a few misguided people don't represent the black community," he said. "We need to stop letting them shift focus off what matters."
"Blacks catch the brunt of injustice and police brutality more than whites do, but whites in this country still get it too," he noted.
"And we need a shift in consciousness in this country -- to really understand that black lives matter and to stay focused on changing our system to make it fairer and more equal," he added.
Though the protests were basically peaceful, when Tuesday's curfew fell, local police still used rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators. Hamil was arrested in the city of Long Beach in Los Angeles County for curfew violation.
On Wednesday night, the curfew continued in the most populous county in the United States, where lives a population of over 10 million.
According to a statement from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, a countywide curfew runs from 9 p.m. local time Wednesday through 5 a.m. Thursday, later than on previous nights.
