It was 5 p.m. on the dot Monday.
Up ahead was a Home Depot store and a Goodyear mechanics shop with masked customers coming in and out. Behind was Eastminster Presbyterian Church. All around were hundreds of protesters taking a knee, raising their fists.
Clear, blue skies. Birds chirped. Helicopters whirred overhead. The traffic lights changed colors, directing traffic that couldn’t pass. Police vehicles flashed red and blue on the edges of the massive crowd.
And then, a song. “Oh, Freedom” by The Golden Gospel Singers. The leader of the protest said it was an important one for black people and that it represented their plea. Distractions were sucked into a vacuum. The crowd hushed and listened.
Protesters had been marching and chanting in East Liberty for around an hour and 15 minutes. It was the third day of protests in Pittsburgh as thousands took to the streets calling for justice for George Floyd, the latest black man to die at the hands of a white officer, this time in Minneapolis.
The song was only one example of several peaceful moments that underscored Monday’s protest in East Liberty. The protest ended badly, but for hours leading up to the violence, trouble was only a possibility.
