Protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd continued for a third day in Colorado Springs on Monday.
While the Monday protests were considerably smaller than the demonstrations that took place during the weekend, a couple hundred people moved through downtown chanting and engaging peacefully with police.
African-American protest organizer Larry Black, 22, said he wants to work in law enforcement one day and help develop more racially sensitive training programs. He said trying to tear down the whole system won’t work.“We (have to) kind of, covert ops, sneak our way in and change it from the inside. Because, ‘the empire’ has already been built and we've just got to change the staff members," Black said.
Photos and videos of the event showed Colorado Springs police o kneeling alongside protesters. In a video posted by television station KOAA, an officer can be heard telling the protesters, “Sometimes, you are right when you’re right.”
Protester and Iraq war veteran Shanika Mosley held a sign Monday reading “Am I Next?” along with a picture of George Floyd and a hashtag referring to Black Lives Matter. Mosley, originally from Florida, said she moved to Colorado Springs 10 years ago while she was in the Army and stayed because it felt like home. She wore a jacket decorated with her military epaulets.
“I proudly fought for my country and I just came out here today to let everybody know...that they fight for our country too,” Mosley said, referring to the protesters.
Organizers said that protests were planned to resume Tuesday beginning at noon at Colorado Springs City Hall.
