Thousands protest in San Francisco with message 'silence is violence'

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Thousands protested from San Francisco's Marina District to the North Beach Police Station demanding an end to racism, police brutality and justice for George Floyd.

While on his daily run, San Francisco resident, Emeka Nwosu saw the crowd near his apartment and asked for the microphone to voice his fear.

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"Ever since I saw the video of Ahmaud Arbery, every mile I run I have to think to myself, 'Thank God I wasn't shot and killed because someone sees me as a threat,'" and Nwosu added, "I'm not a threat. I'm a human, just like everyone else."

Barricades created a divider between officers and protesters who chanted for police reform while holding signs that highlighted the main message of today's protest, "silence is violence."

"When you are complicit. Like when you don't say anything, culturally my parents would tell me the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. I think that when you are not vocal that's one of the worst things you can do," said San Francisco resident, Emmeline Sun.

"George Floyd is me, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin, all those kids are me because when I see myself in the mirror I see myself. I see my mom," said Los Angeles resident, Eron Jones.

Jones traveled from Los Angeles to San Francisco to protest.

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"Change starts with you. When you see one of your family member saying something racist, call them out on it. When you see yourself doing it, when you see me walking down the street and it's the second thought that goes through your mind change yourself," said Jones.

Many among the crowd pledging to become allies to the African American community.

"Something that is different about this time is that I see more people being actively anti-racist and talking to their families and being better allies. That's something that we hadn't seen before. I appreciate that," said San Francisco Resident, Ijeoma Emeh.

A common message that this crowd hopes will spread across the nation with every protest.

"When you see me walking down the street and it's the second thought that goes through your mind change yourself," said Jones.