this is "nightline." tonight, fiery flash point. historic curfews in nearly 80 cities. tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, acrosstr vehicles are positioned in the nation's capital. demonstrators demanding justice and change for george floyd. >> i can't breathe! >> friends, family and for peace. in his hometownalng >> you're misrepresenting my brother. that's not what he would do. >> plus, living, working and be being black in america. through the eyes of our reporters. sharing stories of their experience against the backdrop of national turmoil. >> i remember the first time i was called the n-word while working as a journalist. >> "nightline" starts right now.

with juju chang. >> good evening. thanks for joining us. stark military vehicles deployed in the nation's capital. this as nights of looting and mayhem in cities across the country juxtapose with massive peaceful protests during the day. for the eighth straight day, the death of one man fueling both passionate protests and calls for change throughout the country. today, tens of thousands marched in los angeles, and throughout the nation's capital, on the heels of president trump's provocation, a surge of protesters, amidst a heavy show of military force on the steps of the lincoln memorial. rememb >> reporter: the national guard has been deployed to protect monuments.

there was a big, very peaceful demonstration. yes, we said you were i havery peaceful. with the national guard behind me to make sure this monument is protected. the lincoln memorial, the demonstrators are now breaking up. the national guard will probably stay for some time. >> reporter: and in new york city some of the largest crowds to date, stretching nearly 30 blocks. there is an endless sea of protesters. and for the vast majority of them, peaceful. and yet they're marching right now, very pointedly, very loudly, to the mayor's house. this is one of them. you're trying to get through this? >> we're trying to get through this. we have a foal, agoal, and thise way to our goal. >> peaceful protest. >> reporter: the goal is clearly not to have confrontation with

the police. >> we want the mayor to see. there should be no curfew. we protesting peacefully. >> reporter:ur in p in dozens of cities across the country. and the curfew here, since 1945, set at 8:00 p.m. for the rest of the week. >> i've provided a legal reason for law enforcement to contact individuals, detain individuals and potentially arrest individuals to get them off the street and prevent them from engaging in destructive or violent activity, such as looting. >> reporter: windows smashed, stores ransacked. from macy's, where the thanksgiving parade is held, to times square. >> people see this moment and exploit it. and that is criminal activity, and that is looting. >> reporter: police say many of these are not random but well-orchestrated crimes by individuals taking advantage of the civil unrest. >> people who came to do

violence in a systematic, organized fashion. that is a different reality. we need to grapple with. >> reporter: allegedly among them, arouge, arrested in new york charged with tossing molotov cocktails. called professional agitators, both attorneys. this woman seen throwing a bottle, she's been arrested 11 times in 11 states for acts of violence and resisting arrest. >> law enforcement will place undercov undercover officers in the middle of a protest, use close circuit tv, aviation assets, drones, so they can monitor protest activity and quickly idfynd >> reporter: at just 22, new york

professional protester. >> heat resistant gloves, gallon of organic milk for mace. >> we saw how george walked free. and we have this pent-up anger and it's finally blooming. >> reporter: roughly the same age as trayvon martin would be today, ever was in high school when eric garner said "i can't believe." >> we're fighting for black people to be treated as human. >> if you see aggressiongast hapns e] day of this prote, you put your whi line. >> reporter: he marched over five miles from lower manhattan up the city's east side this afternoon. the site of so many in the

streets jarring. this kind of lack of social distancing might lead into the pandemic. >> you know what's a pandemic? racism. >> reporter: george floyd's family in his town of houston are marching right now. do you feel like you're marching in solidarity with other protesters? >> we're definitely marching in solidarity. it's all peace here. it's all love here. >> reporter: in houston, the place george floyd called home for most of his life, his community still coming to terms with his death. >> what made me cry is george said, man, i'm hurting. i can't breathe.i'm my mamai wa raise him in that house. his mama had passed two years

ago. and he was trying to reach out to his mother. >> reporter: floyd grew up in the third ward, a predominantly black, impoverished neighborhood on the south side. rapper trey the truth and some of floyd's other friends took us back to his roots. >> this is his street, where he was born and raised. >> reporter: from the steps of his first apartment to the child hoo childhood home now empty. >> we could sit here in the truck and talk all night. >> he was a gentle giant. he was about fairness and goodness for everybody. even at the expense of his own hurt, he's still for that. >> reporter: he was known as "big floyd", and rapped alongside deejay screw in the '90s. ♪ >> reporter: floyd, admired for his atmosphere freestyling, like

in this song callinged "sittin' on top of the world." >> he was always towering over everybody as a child through adulthood. but his character, he's always been the same. >> reporter: already, floyd's death creating change here. gangs on the south side have stopped fighting. >> they feel they don't want to waste the police time and resources, trying to get to them when they could be using it to get better laws, pay attention to the stuff that needs to be paid attention to. >> reporter: today floyd's older sister, latonya romenia floyd speaking out for the first time. >> by the grace of god, my family, always been, you know, unity. we're going to make it. >> reporter: she has a message for those perpetrating violence under the banner of her brother's name. >> you're misrepresenting my brother. that's not what he would do. if you look on facebook or

instagram and hear him talk, you'll see, that's not him. but appreciate the love. but there's ways to go about that. >> we should get a law made in his name. whether it may be excessive force, it ought to be the george floyd law. it's just the mention. it's going to be a process. the main thing is to stay at it. >> we've been saying "we shall overcome" for years, but we haven't overcame yet. now it's teime for true change. >> reporter: to take that first step, trey and others organized a protest in houston in floyd's memory. my colleague, marcus moore, was along their route. >> it's a beautiful moment. we makin' george proud. this is george family here. we're making them proud to see how many people love george, man. and we're going to stand up across the nation for him. >> reporter: one of the organizers here is ashton woods, the founder of black lives matter houston which got started

in 2014 after the death of michael brown in ferguson, missouri. >> i've been going for almost a full month before the murder of george floyd because of the other murders right here, it's exhausting, but the work has to get done. >> what's his name? >> george floyd! >> reporter: he's calling for the sea of supporters to keep the moment going beyond this moment. >> i'm cautiously optimistic, and i'm not saying i'm skeptical. i'm saying, where will you be six months from now? we need you. >> and coming up next, what it means to be black and a reporter in today's heated racial climate. of. proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage.

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george employfloyd's death turned into a rallying cryor chan. dor ispl y pitts. >> reporter: this is not the

first big story any of us have covered. combined, we have nearly 400 years of experience covering the news. but long before that, we've been black in america. >> just tell us when you are ready, sir. >> let's just start talking. >> i'm ready. >> all right. let's get started. >> don't shoot! don't shoot! >> this is really difficult. >> difficult is a word that rings true for most of us in america tonight, as we see and sense the pain that engulfs our nation. it is true for most of us who have spent our lives covering pain from many corners of the globe. >> here we are right in the shadow of the republican national convention. >> i've been reporting for more than 20 years now. and rarely very emotionally moved by a story that i take home with me. >> sadly, have had to cover more

than one of these incidents of police brutality where a young black man is killed. and in each of those, it's hard to not think of yourself. >> telling a story, and i am seeing an image of me. a black man, being killed on camera. what that does to you, to see tv so often.entially, >> death caught on camera has indeed taken a toll on america. it dramatizes the harsh truth. black men are two and a half times more likely to be killed by police than whites. incarceration rate is almost six times higher than for white males. and black men are likely to have encounters with police regardless of zip code, paycheck or public status. >> the black color of your skin

makes people scared of you. >> oftentimes, the sin? the color of your kin. >> i'm doing nothing but driving while black. >> the angry and mostly peaceful demonstrations across america are about many things, many people. george floyd, justice, death, dignity. >> make no mistake. racism in america is the original sin. and we can talk around it. and it's a great country, but therm cw. tution didn't evenyncf color feel like second class citizens. those legacies are hard to overcome. >> so, as i look at george floyd, it's easy to say we're different, from different places, different ages, different upbringings, ended up in different places in our lives, but i see him, and he's exactly the same as i am, except

for one difference. i made it home. >> for all the current talk of the divided america, many have lived on the razor's edge of that divide since birth, demonstrating is one weapon, but a disarming smile another. >> throughout my life, my smile has helped keep knme alive. >> as a plaqblack man, if i shoo much anger, you're scared of me. shouldn't be the case. >> being a young black male, you could be perceived immediately as a threat. it impacts the way i approach people. i try be as personable, as friendly, as engaging as possible. >> they say that america is now divided. >> reporter: a divide where one word has lived for generations. many have tried to repurpose it. and most remember the first time

they were stung by it. >> we were standing just minutes away from our live shots, for world news tonight. and a pickup truck whizzes behind me and yells out [ bleep ], [ bleep ]. >> is that what he said? >> yeah, he just yelled out the n-word. >> reporter: difficult, dangerous, ugly, all such words apply to what we've all seen these last many days. but when we look closer, there is hope. >> we can unite all blacks,ation blacks,atio blacks,ations, hispanics. >> we'll remember our friends. that really spoke to me. >> i am heartened by the images i have seen of police officers, diverse crowds. of people taking a knee together or grasping hands. >> i would like us to get to a point where we actually can see

each other for who we are. not because the color of our skin. to dream that millions of people have. but we just haven't been able to get there. >> you know, two things can be true simultaneously. america is a great country. but at the same time, this is a country where there are moments like this, when we see the life draining out of mr. floyd. where we wonder, in america, is it really true? that all men are created >> our thanks up next, coming together to clear up chaos left in our streets. optional pick-up & delivery and at-home maintenance, as well as online shopping with home delivery and special finance arrangements.

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and finally tonight, the light in the clearing. all across the country, volunteers, picking up trash and scrubbing off graffiti left behind in cities. bruised by eight days of unrest over the death of george floyd. neighbors carefully clearing up

the destruction to hopefully make way for some healing in a heartbroken nation. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you at the same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. goodnight, america. >> jimmy: hello, i'm jimmy. thank you for watching our show. appreciate it. this is the eighth night of angry protests across this country and around the world. including here in los angeles. where people are fed up with the inequities and abuse. our president, if we can still even call him that, seems to

believe he is the warden overseeing a prison break. this morning, he tweeted -- "d.c. had no problems last night. many arrests. great job done by all. overwhelming force. domination. likewise, minneapolis was great (thank you president trump!)." he wrote this. forget presidents, has any other person ever thanked himself in a tweet? other than trump, i don't think anyone has. like, could you imagine joe montana writing "san francisco. four super bowl rings. thank you joe montana!" no. you can't. because it's unimaginable. he is unimaginable. and while the president is giving himself another reacharound, we had another curfew tonight here in los angeles. there's a curfew in new york. looters, who should never be confused with protestors because they are different groups, have unfortunately provided the fox newsers with an excuse to lump people together. which is what they do best. i don't know about you, but i