Protests Across America Through the Eyes of Black Photographers

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- In Portland, Ore., they massed on the Burnside Bridge, lying down on the roadway with their hands behind their backs. In Houston they marched in the thousands from Discovery Green to City Hall, most on foot, some on horseback. In Newark, N.J., they danced in unison to Cupid Shuffle. Everywhere, there were chants of “I can’t breathe” and signs reading “Black Lives Matter.”

Since May 25, when 46-year-old George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, protests against police brutality toward black people have spread to hundreds of cities and towns across the U.S. and around the world. Many of the gatherings have been calm, while vandalism, looting, and violence have broken out at others. Police have used tear gas and rubber bullets on crowds—including peaceful ones, according to multiple accounts by onlookers and journalists as well as videos shared on social media. On June 1 in Washington, D.C., law enforcement deployed “pepper balls” to clear Lafayette Square so President Trump could walk from the White House to nearby St. John’s Church, where he briefly posed with a Bible. 

Bloomberg Businessweek selected the following photographs from cities around the U.S., all taken by black photographers, to capture the grief, solidarity, and defiance that characterize the protest movement. 

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.