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“When protesters confront police, they’re viewing them as the arm of the authority, but the police really aren’t. The police the protesters are talking to are line patrol officers with mid-level supervisors,” Pelfrey said. “As long as protesters remain calm, they’re going to have a forum for talking and to air their grievances. But once the calm is gone, then police have a responsibility to maintain public safety.”

“If you had asked me [about the statues] in the early ’90s or late ’80s, I probably would have said they were part of history. Now I would say there’s no question; we need to bring them down,” Pinckney said. “I personally can’t think of a justification in this day and age with understanding more and more the pain those statues cause.”

Against the Lee base, currently decorated in pro-Black and anti-police messages, and surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the city, there are residents grilling hot dogs and giving them away. There’s music and dancing, and recent graduates taking photos in caps and gowns.

The Richmond Police Memorial statue, which was moved to Byrd park in 2016, was vandalized and covered in paint following protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death and growing calls for Virginia’s Confederate monuments to be removed.

"The Governor’s Executive Order established the curfew and classified violation of the curfew as a Class 1 misdemeanor, which can include up to 12 months incarceration and/or a fine of up to $2500. Nevertheless, I will exercise my prosecutorial discretion as Commonwealth’s Attorney and waive the possibility of incarceration for anyone charged solely with violating the requested curfew." -- Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin

“It’s going to move swiftly now,” predicted Dr. W. Ferguson Reid, the first African American elected to the Virginia General Assembly since the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War. “You have to reach what I call critical mass,” said Reid, 95, who was first elected in 1968 and re-elected twice to a multijurisdictional seat in the Richmond area. “Once it meets that critical mass, it explodes.”