THE BIG STORY

The movement is everywhere

You've almost certainly seen stories of massive demonstrations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. But what you might not know is that hundreds more protests are happening in small towns across the country, often led by people taking to the streets for the first time in their lives.

Anne Helen Petersen took a deep dive into the extraordinary spread of the protest movement across parts of the country that you don't hear much about in the national news — small towns like Havre, Montana and Petal, Mississippi, regional cities like Lubbock, Texas and island hamlets like Bar Harbor, Maine.

"These protests cut across demographics and geographic spaces. They’re happening in places with little in the way of a protest tradition, in places with majority white population and majority black, and at an unprecedented scale," Petersen reports. "People who’ve watched and participated in the Black Lives Matter movement since 2015 say that this time feels different. And the prevalence of these small protests is one of many reasons why."

Protesters in Riverton, Wyoming, May 31. (Savannah Maher / Wyoming Public Radio)

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Protests and the virus

Public health experts have been advising against large, dense crowds of people since the early days of the outbreak — especially ones where there's a lot of chanting, singing, or yelling involved.

For healthcare workers who are also joining the George Floyd protests, there's plenty of awareness of the risks involved, both personally and for communities facing possible new waves of infections. Stephanie Lee spoke to six of them to understand how they're balancing the need to protest with the public health issues.

"For me, I’m a mother to a black son. I feel like I have no choice,' said Dr. Jessica Edwards, a family medicine physician in Texas. "I feel like his life matters more to me, and his ability to be an American without worrying or fearing for his life, dying at the hands of police, matters way more to me. I would lay down my life for my child, right? For me, I feel like the stakes are much higher."

Doctors on the steps of Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. (Kim Shemanski for DOCS 4 POC / Via instagram)

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SNAPSHOTS

Congress is moving to expand protection for whistleblowers in the wake of the Ukraine scandal. "These look like incredibly important, excellent reforms," said one expert who read the proposals.

Meghan Markle gave a graduation speech to students at her former Los Angeles high school, themed around police brutality. "The first thing I want to say to you is that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you have to grow up in a world where this is still present," she said.

Users of the neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor say its moderators are deleting comments stating “Black Lives Matter." Moderators say the comments go against its guidelines.

David Dorn, a retired black police captain, was killed by looters in St. Louis on Tuesday. His death was "tragic and senseless," said the Ethical Society of Police, a black police union in St. Louis.

David Dorn, 77, who was killed in St. Louis on Tuesday night. (St Louis Police Department)

IT'S NEWS O'CLOCK

The podcast that's doing the most

The Drug Enforcement Agency got permission to conduct “covert surveillance” on protesters, BuzzFeed News reports. Plus, Matt Ortile joins us to talk about his new book, The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I've Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance. Check out the latest episode of News O'Clock here!

IMAGES OF HOPE

The goodness of the protests

There's been an endless flood of dark, depressing images and videos since the protests began — of police brutality, inexplicable violence and destruction, fires, blood and broken glass. But photographers have also captured humanity at its best, in the protesters hoping for a better world and fighting peacefully for it. Here's a beautiful gallery showing the best of what's happened over the last week.

Here's Mia Camacho, 4, and her mother, Amber, offering support to volunteers in Los Angeles this weekend:

Ringo H.w. Chiu / AP

And here's a man carrying a child on his shoulders during a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota:

(Leah Millis / Reuters)

There's 25 more beautiful pictures waiting for you here.

Be one of the good ones today,

Tom