Left: Shiquita Dorsey leads the crowd of protesters along the sidewalks of Las Vegas Boulevard, Sunday, May 31, 2020. She says this march is personal for her because she has faced abuse by the police.
Right: A portrait of protester Gary Jones, along Las Vegas Boulevard, May 31, 2020. He says he marches for George Floyd and his friend, Julius Sampson, who was killed in 2019 by Robert Anthony Granato while defending a bartender in Salem, NC. "I've donated, I've called litigation, I'm out here protesting. I don't know what else to do." Although the shooting happened in 2019, Granato would not be convincted until 2024.
Groups of protestors make their way down Las Vegas Boulevard carrying protest signs carrying messages such as "No Justice, No Peace," and "I can't breathe," a reference to the words spoken by George Floyd while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes in 2020 until death. In 2021, Chauvin was convicted of three charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree murder.
Mekkah Fields, who took on the role of coordinator and police mediator, addresses the crowd of protestors at a short reprieve. She says the reason she accepted the responsibility is because, "I'm black in America [but I] can't be black in the house, car, outside. If I wasn't going to speak out I wouldn't have come. My heart is too heavy to not come out here and do something about it."
Marching alongside the protestors is the Las Vegas Police Department. Although they are not directly engaging with the protestors throughout the day, there is a definite tension in the air and protestors are consistent in trying to get the attention of officers patrolling in the street.
The protest culminates in a standoff with the LVPD along Las Vegas Boulevard. The officers, gas masks strapped tightly to their faces, are stoic, staring straight ahead at the crowd of hundreds as the protestors continue to line the sidewalks.
Protests along Las Vegas Boulevard continue through the evening as the police presence thickens.
As the sun sets, protestors begin to give emotional pleas to the officers lining the strip.
...while others comfort and help prevent the crowd from approaching the officers in the street.
Others attempt to deescalate the tension between the officers.
Some protestors continue to raise their signs high against the glow of the Las Vegas strip and the police vehicles.
The tension reaches a fever pitch as a water bottle is thrown from the crowd of protestors into the line of LVPD police officers. Almost immediately after the water bottle hits the ground the officers prepare themselves to engage the protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The tear gas begins to disperse the crowd of protestors. Those who refuse to retreat from the street are met with rubber bullets.
The tear gas spreads to parking lots and business off The Strip. Two women look on with their hands up as the tear gas envelopes their car.
A tear gas canister lands near the entrance of a souvenir shop and a protestor kicks it away.
Angel Wolfhart, 21, and a group of others carry gallon jugs of water to help mitigate the effects of the tear gas on fleeing protestors.
Angel Wolfhart and Carolina Gonzalez, 18, rest after fleeing Las Vegas Boulevard, Sunday, May 31, 2020. Wolfhart, who spent the early evening attempting to deescalate tensions between protestors and the Las Vegas Police Department, was tear gassed twice and shot at least 4 times by rubber bullets. "I'm so tired of this," he said tearfully. "This is what they wanted from the get go. I tried to keep the peace. They wanted to shoot us from moment one. They shot unarmed protestors. They shot as people were running with their hands up."