A protester cries as he stands with thousands of others for a Black Lives Matter demonstration on June 2, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. [Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]
Protestor Jevon Sutton yells, “I can’t breathe,” while joining thousands of people as they stage a die-in next to the Colorado State Capitol, with their hands behind their backs, to protest the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020.[Photo: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images]
George Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd (center), attends a vigil at the place his brother was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd called for peace and justice after his brother’s death, thanking those who continued to protest. [Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images]
A protester cries as he stands with thousands of others for a Black Lives Matter demonstration on June 2, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. [Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]
Actor John Boyega gives an impassioned speech to a crowd in London’s Hyde Park on June 3, 2020. “Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless,” he said. “And now is the time. I ain’t waiting.” [Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]
Race car driver Bubba Wallace, who this year asked Nascar to ban Confederate flags, wears an “I Can’t Breathe – Black Lives Matter” t-shirt as he stands for the national anthem ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 7, 2020 in Hampton, Georgia. [Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images]
A funeral attendant helps direct traffic outside of a public viewing for George Floyd on June 6, 2020 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Floyd was born. [Photo: Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images]
Protesters attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder whose expulsion of Native Americans caused the Trail of Tears, in Lafayette Square near the White House on June 22, 2020. [Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
Volunteers paint an “All Black Lives Matter” mural on a street in Newark, New Jersey, on June 27, 2020. Black Lives Matter murals were painted on streets across the country. [Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images]
A horse-drawn carriage carrying the body of civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on July 26, 2020. In 1965, Lewis and other civil rights leaders were attacked by Alabama State Police while marching across the bridge in support of voting rights on what would come to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” [Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images]
LeBron James, who called for justice for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd throughout the year, kneels in a Black Lives Matter shirt with his Lakers teammates ahead of a game against the LA Clippers on July 30, 2020. [Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]
The Black Lives Matter movement was not new in 2020, but it was the year it took over the nation and reached across the world. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25 spurred protest not only in that city but all around the U.S., and those protests continued for days, and then weeks. When the death of Breonna Taylor gained nationwide attention—she was killed in may by Louisville police who raided her home, but the case didn’t become a national story until March—it became yet another reason for people to keep taking to the streets.
A man wears an “I Can’t Breathe” mask on June 19, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia.[Photo: Eze Amos/Getty Images]On June 6, less than two weeks after Floyd’s death, half a million people turned out for protests in nearly 550 places across the country, according to theNew York Times. That was the peak, but protests continued throughout the summer. By some estimates, more than 26 million people participated. These photos, from photo agency Getty, show those actions.
These protests looked different from ones in years past not only because of the size and signs and subject matter, but because of how, in the background, the COVID-19 pandemic continued. Protestors wore masks and passed out PPE to marchers. Signs that read “I can’t breathe” seemed to speak both to Floyd’s death and the death of thousands, particularly Black and brown Americans, from the coronavirus.
The pandemic also added a new challenge for photographers in covering the protests safely. Before the protests began, Getty noticed the toll the pandemic took on photojournalists who couldn’t travel and who faced the added obstacles of intense safety protocols. (In April, Getty announced $40,000 in grants to support photographers as they captured the impact of COVID-19 with those added hurdles.)
A girl holds her fist in the air in front of the memorial for George Floyd on June 9, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images]Still, the pandemic wasn’t enough to stop the millions of protestors and the photographers who captured their actions. After people had been shut in for months, the images of crowded streets and entire sports teamskneelingfor Black lives showed how people were coming together in times of strife to demand justice. Images ofBlack Lives Matter muralspainted on streets gave another image, besides empty roads and storefronts, of the way cities were changing this year.
Photographs of monuments covered in graffiti or toppled by protestors highlighted the systemic issues in this country that harm Black lives. Images of people in masks—whether disposable ones or ones that read “I can’t breathe” across them—exposed the fault lines of both racial inequities and healthcare disparities.
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Kristin Toussaint is the staff editor for Fast Company’s Impact section, covering climate change, labor, shareholder capitalism, and all sorts of innovations meant to improve the world. You can reach her at ktoussaint@fastcompany.com.More
