They said his name How George Floyd changed a city 1,100 miles away

By Anna Orso Photos by Alejandro A. Alvarez, Steven M. Falk, Charles Fox, Tom Gralish, Jessica Griffin, Monica Herndon, Heather Khalifa, Yong Kim, David Maialetti, Jose F. Moreno, Elizabeth Robertson, Tim Tai and Tyger Williams

Published June 7, 2020

Protesters gather along the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and Eakins Oval during a protest, Saturday, June 6, 2020 in Philadelphia over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

The day started with silence.

The city had been shut down for months, the result of a pandemic that has disproportionately affected black and brown communities.

Demonstrators kneel in silence for nine minutes outside of Philadelphia City Hall as they mourn the death of George Floyd on May 30. Floyd died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes and two other officers restrained him, allegedly causing his death and sparking nationwide protests against police brutality. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Protesters raise their fists at a demonstration against the death of George Floyd at City Hall. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Thousands take to the Art Museum steps during a protest against the death of George Floyd. HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer

At noon, hundreds knelt silently in the shadow of City Hall for nearly nine minutes.

Then they marched, to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and back, as supporters banged pots in solidarity, beneath a whir of helicopters and the pierce of sirens.

Police get ready to approach protesters during the Justice for George Floyd Philadelphia Protest at the Municipal Services Building on May 30. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

A protester and a Philadelphia Police officer look at each other during the Justice for George Floyd Philadelphia Protest at the Municipal Services Building on May 30. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

“We have every right to be angry, because we live in fear, we raise our children in fear,” said Jamial Hanksinson, 50, a schoolteacher and protester. “That trauma is in us and we just pass it on from generation to generation.”

Smoke rises from a burning police cruiser in Center City during a protest in Philadelphia. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Protesters jump on a car they overturned near the Municipal Services Building in Philadelphia. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

Hours later, thousands roared as they converged at the Municipal Services Building, physically clashing with police and smashing windows of government buildings. Car engines exploded as they tried to dismantle a statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo. They spray-painted “Philly belongs to the people” outside Liberty Place.

Protesters attempt to burn and bring down the Frank Rizzo statue outside of the MSB building in Philadelphia after a protest against the death of George Floyd. HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer

They set a convenience store on fire and, as a man tried to escape, police wrestled him to the ground and put him in handcuffs. He shouted: “I can’t breathe!”

More than 100 people were arrested and 13 police officers injured.

People jump through the broken window at Walgreens at Broad and Chestnut streets in Center City Philadelphia. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A group of men pose for a picture with a bonfire in the middle of Walnut Street in Philadelphia. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dozens of buildings were burned, vandalized, and looted. Plumes of smoke obstructed the skyline for hours, and the city’s central shopping district was reduced to wreckage.

A person takes goods past photographers documenting the chaos that followed a protest after the death of George Floyd. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A Philadelphia Police car burns in front of the Apple Store on Walnut Street in Center City. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Some said it stained the movement. Others said it’s why the world is paying attention.

A police officer bikes past a fire on the sidewalk at 15th and Chestnut streets following the protest. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia awoke to a place no one recognized.

Volunteers swept broken glass and trash from streets. “What is left is mush,” a business owner said.

People clean windows on a dunkin donuts in Center City as clean up begins the day. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

Mayor Jim Kenney during a news conference said “vandals” did a disservice to those who stood up against systemic racism without resorting to destruction.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney meets with the media to discuss the destruction and looting in the city at the Fire Administration Building. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Workers remove the paint from the Frank Rizzo statue as clean-up begins the day after widespread protests in Philadelphia. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

By sunrise, police guarded the Rizzo statue as city workers cleaned the word “PIG” off the likeness of the police commissioner and mayor whose tenure was marked by unchecked police brutality.

Looting and vandalism started before 10 a.m.

Workers survey the damage inside the Philadelphia Runner store the Sunday after people broke into businesses in Center City. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

An unidentified security guard cleans up outside the Theory shop in Philadelphia. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

The city closed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, blocked nonresidents from entering Center City, and ordered the few stores that had opened to close by 3 p.m.

State officials activated the National Guard as hundreds of protesters assembled near the statue of Octavius Catto, who 150 years ago fought racial injustice. Organizers read names of black people killed by police — Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown — as demonstrators cried: “Black Lives Matter!”

People gather during a Justice for George Floyd protest at the Octavius V. Catto Monument in South Penn Square. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

People gather at the Octavius V. Catto Monument. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

People gather at the Octavius V. Catto Monument. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

In the afternoon, after a peaceful march in Old City, two people spray-painted part of Independence Mall. Police descended, hitting protesters with batons and putting several on the ground, tying their hands with zip ties.

Police officers stand guard at the Municipal Services Building. MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer

Volunteers clean graffiti painted on a building in Center City. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Meanwhile, fury exploded in West Philadelphia. People smashed police cars and set some on fire. They ransacked the 52nd Street business corridor, which had already been struggling to regain its footing.

Police stand in a line on 52nd Street, between Arch and Market, as seen through a police cruiser. TIM TAI / Staff Photographer

“That’s what happens when people get frustrated,” said Jessie Joseph, a longtime restaurant operator there. “They start doing crazy things.”

A person runs while being sprayed with a chemical after police dispersed a large crowd near the Foot Locker at 52nd and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

People climb over a police car while trying to break into a Foot Locker store near 52nd and Chestnut streets. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A man carries boxes of shoes near a footlocker at 52nd and Chestnut streets on May 31. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Police fired rubber bullets into crowds and deployed tear gas down residential streets. Strangers poured milk over each others’ red eyes while explosions rang in the distance. The air was filled with smoke.

Doctors said a family evacuated when a gas canister landed on their porch. They treated young children for tear gas exposure.

A protester interacts with police at 52nd and Chestnut Streets. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Escorted by Philadelphia Police, National Guard troops arrived in Center City around 12:45 a.m. on June 1. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

It was just after dawn when they came in force, armed with brooms — volunteers cleaning up neighborhoods as the sun peeked out. Fires smoldered.

“These things can be replaced, but we’re coming together,” Marietta Wesley, of West Philadelphia, said. “It hurts us watching it unfold. But that’s the victory: the aftermath.”

Community members clean up damage and vandalism at a store that was burned out the day before on 52nd street West Philadelphia. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

A Philadelphia police officer takes a picture with his phone at the scene of a fire at Kensington and Indiana in Philadelphia. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

The Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a multi-alarm fire at N. Broad and Chew streets. The department worked extra because of civil unrest in Philadelphia and nationwide. ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

Demonstrations spanned the city. In Fairmount, a young black protester sat atop a car, wearing a cap and gown. “You can take my life,” the 2020 Community College of Philadelphia graduate declared, “but you can’t take my degree.”

A protest makes its way up Broad Street from Spring Garden. MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer

Around 5 p.m., thousands of protesters spilled onto I-676, halting traffic. SWAT officers pressed toward them.

“And then all the sudden, I blink,” said Ebony Ukogu, 24, of Philadelphia, “and my eyes are on fire, and then I start to hear the pops, the sounds of them firing canister after canister of tear gas.”

Tear gas is fired at protesters who gathered on the Vine Street Expressway, blocking traffic. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Protesters are arrested after tear gas is fired to disperse people who gathered on the Vine Street Expressway. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Police use tear gas to disperse protesters who descended onto the Vine Street Expressway. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

The protesters had no clear path. They climbed up the hill, dragging others over a barricade. Those who could see opened their eyes to a crowd of people choking, crying, vomiting, and screaming. Dozens were arrested.

Police with protesters who were arrested after occupying the Vine Street Expressway. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Protesters arrested on I-676 sit handcuffed, waiting to be processed and put on a Sheriff's bus. STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said officers aimed to “safely defuse a volatile and dangerous situation and restore order.” Officials blamed rock-throwing protesters but offered no evidence.

A member of the National Guard rests after protesters leave the area in front of City Hall. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

A different crowd gathered in Fishtown — about 100 mostly white men wielding baseball bats, saying they were protecting their neighborhood from a rumored riot. The group roamed the street 2½ hours past curfew; two people said they were assaulted. The mayor said the city doesn’t condone “armed vigilantism.”

A group of about 100 people, who called themselves old-time Fishtowners, gather on Girard and Berks before patrolling Girard Avenue carrying bats, hammers and shovels. The men said they were protecting their neighborhood in the event looters or rioters showed up in Fishtown. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

By 9 p.m., the city had quieted. Black clergy marched down Broad Street to pray at a barricaded City Hall. It was three hours past curfew, but police let them through.

Friends Ayisha Scales (left) and Kandisc Collins hold candles and each other during a candlelight vigil. Police estimated about 600 people attended the peaceful program, which was sponsored by the Gloucester County NAACP, at James G. Atkinson Park in Washington Twp., N.J. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

A group of pastors and ministers sign and pray after they marched from Broad and Erie to City Hall. STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

No one knows what healing truly looks like. But something happened Tuesday.

As a scorched Philadelphia began to rebuild, protests spread to the Main Line, to Cherry Hill, to the Shore. And they came back to West Philly.

Across Pennsylvania, it was election day. Lines at some polling places were long. Voters waited anyway. Former vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke at City Hall, repeating those words: “I can’t breathe.”

People line up to vote at the Free Library Falls of Schuylkill Branch on Election Day in Philadelphia. ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

“There’s a certain peace with these people standing in line. They’re saying, ‘We don’t care how long it takes. We are standing. Because we gon’ vote.’ That’s resilience.”

— Councilmember Cherelle Parker

“It’s not the first time we’ve heard those words,” Biden said, referencing the 2014 death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York police. “But it’s time to listen to those words.”

Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Philadelphia. Matt Rourke / AP

Lauren Coursey led a 6½-hour march through a half-dozen neighborhoods. She didn’t organize the protest, but stood near the front with a megaphone. The day was “a beautiful moment,” Coursey, 26, of Southwest Philadelphia, said. “We need to have a beautiful ending.”

Karen Cutts (right), 51, of Haddon Heights, hugs Shakeeya Summers, 35, of Cherry Hill, following a four-hour march in Cherry Hill, N.J. The marchers finished at the Cherry Hill Mall, where they were met by New Jersey State Police. Summers shouted to the line of troopers, “My baby said, ‘Momma, I don’t want to be black no more.’” The state police left. Then Cutts came up to Summers’ 6-year old son and, after asking permission, told him, “You are loved. Your life matters.” TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Protester Aliyah Enix (left) and Philadelphia police officer Quishanna Lee (center) hug during a peaceful protest in Fishtown. Officer Lee hugged Enix after she got up from taking a knee with the protesters, who are seen cheering in the background. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

By evening, hundreds of protesters assembled outside the same Fishtown police precinct that drew the group with bats a day earlier. They marched through the neighborhood, fists in the air.

Protesters move past City Hall at dusk. STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

National guard troops head north on Christopher Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

A private protection officer, who said he was born and raised in South Philadelphia, is carrying an AR-15 and has been hired from Ingage Security by the South 9th Street Italian Market Business Association to dissuade looters from vandalizing businesses. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

“We don’t want revenge,” 22-year-old Romel Clark said. “We want equality.”

Under a dark early morning sky, a crane hoisted the Rizzo statue out of the ground.

Kenney’s administration had planned to remove it next year. They accelerated the timeline.

“This is a lesson in, if you do not listen to people, they will take matters into their own hands — and they will force your hand,” said Deandra Jefferson, with Philly REAL Justice, which led a campaign to remove the statue.

The National Guard stands in front of the Municipal Services Building in Center City. The Frank Rizzo statue was removed early Wednesday. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

Rizzo’s family slammed Kenney and called the act political pandering. “He reminds me of a looter,” said Frank Rizzo Jr.

Hours later, Mural Arts disavowed the Rizzo mural that spans a wall in the Italian Market. Plans were laid to quickly remove it.

Demonstrations continued in North Philly, Center City, and Fishtown as storms rolled through and gave way to a sweltering afternoon. Still, hundreds lay on the North Broad Street pavement for nearly nine minutes.

A group of peaceful protesters from Our Fathers Heart pray in silence in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum as a storm rolls in. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

A group of peaceful protesters from Our Fathers Heart pray in silence in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum during a heavy rainstorm. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

At the Art Museum, they chanted “say her name” and “Breonna Taylor,” the black medical worker killed in March by police in Louisville, Ky.

A protest leader relayed news to the crowd through a megaphone: Three Minneapolis officers had been charged for not intervening while Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.

Justin Nsiah, of Philadelphia, joins demonstrators in the middle of Broad Street for nine minutes during a march in Philadelphia. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

Demonstrators lay in the middle of Broad Street for nine minutes during a march in Philadelphia. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

Pastor Noah Hepler, (left), of Atonement Lutheran Church, and Pastor Shawn Hyska, (center), formerly of First Presbyterian in Fishtown, pray with an unidentified woman on East Girard Avenue outside the 26th District Police and Patrol Station. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Among those who cheered was Davian Ingram, who hoisted a cardboard sign that listed every black person killed by police in the last five years.

“I feel an obligation,” Ingram, 25, said, “to show their names.”

He left space at the bottom to add more.

Protesters sit in the rain on East Girard Avenue for nine minutes of silence to symbolize the length of time a police officer’s knee was on George Floyd’s neck. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

National guardsmen walked the sidewalks from Kensington to West Philly.

Pennsylvania National Guard walking along Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia. INQUIRER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Elected officials knelt at the Catto statue and the district attorney took a knee in the street. Scores of people sat on the ground at the LOVE statue, holding signs. And still more lay for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Front row kneeling, left to right: Philadelphia City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, Pastor Melanie DuBose, Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, Councilmember Derek Green, District Attorney Larry Krasner, along with other faith leaders, community leaders, and community members. They took a knee in honor of the memory of George Floyd at the Octavius V. Catto Monument outside of City Hall. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Larry Krasner takes a knee near where the National Guard is stationed at 15th and JFK Blvd. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Protesters rally along Market Street. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Protesters lying silently on the ground at the Philadelphia Art Museum for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time a Minnesota police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

The demonstrations took on new unity, and officials said they were listening. Kenney spoke to North Philly residents and formed a committee to assess how the city can heal. Gov. Tom Wolf, who had walked with demonstrators in Harrisburg a day earlier, said a commission would investigate State Police misconduct.

Protesters in Center City Philadelphia. STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

Protesters rally at Independence Hall. Kim Lolk, left, holds a sign she made. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Protesters rally at LOVE Park in Philadelphia. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Protesters asked for more.

At City Hall they demanded mental evaluations for police, social media monitoring, and that officers leave body cameras on at all times. They want misconduct settlements paid through the police pension fund and for credibly accused officers to be permanently banned from policing.

“We need actual laws,” said Sam Barton, 22, of Northeast Philly, “to make cops be actually afraid of killing black people for no reason.”

A lone Pennsylvania National Guard member is on duty at the Municipal Services Building plaza as the sun sets on the sixth day of marching and protests in Philadelphia. TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

Hundreds began the day protesting in Mount Airy, while medical workers across the city donned scrubs and lab coats, kneeling for part of a nationwide demonstration, “White Coats for Black Lives.”

Roger Kim, a physician at University of Pennsylvania Hospital, kneels alongside fellow medical workers and protesters in front of City Hall. “We have a unique platform as physicians,” Kim said. “We were hoping to use that voice and let the people of Philadelphia know we are not going to sit there, and that we are with the Black Lives Matter movement.” TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Protesters and medical workers march from City Hall to the Philadelphia Museum of Art as they shout the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Medical workers and protesters kneel in front of City Hall. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff photographer

At Franklin Field near the University of Pennsylvania, one woman with a baby on her chest held a sign that read: “Show me that I am growing up in a world where black lives matter.”

Medical professionals from CHOP and HUP kneel silently in solidarity with those protesting the death of George Floyd. Staff Photographer

Commissioner Outlaw announced more than 700 arrests over the week — but said only four occurred the previous day, when “protesters were almost entirely peaceful.” Kenney vowed more action, saying to the city’s black communities: “We hear you, we are listening to you, and we feel the pain you share with us.”

Outside City Hall, hundreds of Muslims honored Floyd with a prayer service.

Muslims gather on the south side of City Hall, joining in prayer in support of Black Lives Matter. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Muslim community leaders gather on the south side of City Hall, praying in support of Black Lives Matter. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

"Allah didn’t create us differently so we can oppress each other,” Tahir Wyatt of the United Muslims Movement said. “He did it so we could get to know each other better.”

A protester holds a sign reading, “Happy Birthday Breonna Taylor,” as they march to City Hall. Friday would have been Taylor’s birthday if she wasn’t shot and killed in March by Louisville Metro Police Officers. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

The district attorney announced a Philadelphia police officer seen on video roughing up protesters would be charged with aggravated assault.

City officials expected a large demonstration, and got one. City Hall was militarized and traffic was shut down river to river.

Demonstrators protest social injustice by the police at the Philadelphia Museum of Art along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday, June 6, 2020. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Police Officers and National Guard stand on a merging ramp onto I-676 as protesters march by on Saturday, June 6, 2020. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

A National Guard member looks through binoculars near City Hall before a protest in Philadelphia against the Minneapolis police custody death of George Floyd on Saturday, June 6, 2020. Floyd died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality. TIM TAI / Staff Photographer

Many thousands of protesters stretched from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul chanting “No justice, no peace!” and “You can’t stop the revolution!" Speakers demanded reductions in police funding and charges against hundreds of protesters dropped.

Thousands turned out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on June 6, 2020 in the city’s largest demonstration yet against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Some yelled at a line of police and national guardsmen. A mother with her daughter next to her cried to them: “It is time to stand up. Stand up against brutality.”

Demonstrators cool off under a hose squirting water while they march to City Hall after protesting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday, June 6, 2020. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Kolby Kent Nelson, 32, Physician who graduated from PCOM, is out volunteering as a medic offering masks, first aid, and sunscreen for those protesting at the Philadelphia Art Museum on Saturday June 6, 2020. “This is a white problem,” Nelson said. “Everyone who has an opportunity to use their voice needs to use it now. It’s no time to be silent, use your voice.” TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

On the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Kerry Anne and Michael Gordon stepped out into a sea of protesters who formed around them. They were in a gown and tuxedo — they’d just been married. The crowd roared as the Gordons kissed in the street.

Kerry Anne and Michael Gordon came out to show their support for Black Lives Matter and the protest over the death of George Floyd on their wedding day along 16th Street and Benjamin Parkway on Saturday June 6, 2020. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

“I have anger, I have sadness, but I also have hope,” said Elana McDonald, 45, of Mount Airy, standing in the shadow of the Catto statue. “I also have hope.”

And on 15th Street near City Hall, a dance party broke out near a “Happy Birthday” sign on a pole. It was covered in flowers for a woman who would have turned 27 Friday.

Darian Jerard (left) and Emmanuelle Delpech wrap themselves in a flag Jerard’s grandfather brought back from his Navy days. They brought out the flag because they wanted “to represent what America looks like.” said Jerard. Thousands turned out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on June 6, 2020 in the city’s largest demonstration yet against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw (left) and other police officer take a knee as George Floyd is remembered. Outlaw marched with the Black Greek fraternIties. Thousands turned out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on June 6, 2020 in the city’s largest demonstration yet against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

A dance group near City Hall. Thousands turned out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on June 6, 2020 in the city’s largest demonstration yet against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

As protesters walked by, they said her name.

Breonna Taylor.

Trombonist Jeff Bradshaw plays the Black National Anthem at A Quest for Parity: The Octavius V. Catto Memorial during The Divine 9 United for Equality & Justice rally held by black fraternities on June 6, 2020 in a demonstration against police brutality and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer