One of the things I’ve noticed when photographing the protest marches is the moment of truth I sometimes hear someone go through. When things turn bad and the police start making arrests. When they start clubbing people who are well within their rights. When that intensity hits there is usually the shriek of someone within the crowd who is going through that sudden, cold, brutal awakening that this is real and not just something on tv. I get the impression that it’s the first they’re experiencing it and I can literally hear the absolute panic and pain pass through them as I hear their screams of “What is going on?! Why are you doing this?!” It’s as if that last little bit of denial has snapped and they’re faced with a cold reality they didn’t think was possible in America. Something in them crumbles.

-Mitchell Parsons-