My girlfriend is a hero.

Mary and I attended the protest in Downtown Nashville today. Things went awesome - we occupied Capitol plaza, marched down Broadway, everything went great - until the protest arrived at the downtown police precinct. /1

Shortly after arriving to the precinct, the rioting began. As people ran to and fro I lost Mary in the crowd. Twenty minutes passed with me looking for her, and when I found her she was crying. /2

She had gotten caught in the violence and had been pelted with a rock and had her head shoved through a police car's windshield. My friends Conner and Jaren quickly decided to walk back to our parking spot at Bicentennial Park over two miles away. In the meantime, I stayed. /3

But Mary wouldn't sit down. As soon as they left, Mary, while dazed, got up and walked back into the rioting crowd (much to my poor heart's chagrin). /4

There, Mary wove her way through the difficult terrain of the rioting crowd while twice getting pushed away by passing horse-mounted officers. Finally she (and me, hanging on to her arm) arrived at the SWAT line in front of the precinct. And what did she begin to do?

She talked

In the middle of the start of the Nashville riots, while police cars were getting busted and barricades drawn, Mary talked to the men of the SWAT team. She poured her heart out to them, talking about her fear of walking alone, of how scared she is for our future children. /6

I joined in, speaking about how I am so scared for her that I walk Mary to and from work every morning. And then... Something amazing happened. /7

Everyone around us, in the middle of the burgeoning riot, began talking to the SWAT as well. The men and women around us started airing their fears to the SWAT, and even the SWAT men themselves began to speak. /8

They spoke about how tired they were, how afraid they were for their families and children, and how wrong our nation has gone. /9

And there, for a moment, in the middle of a riot in downtown Nashville, we, white, black, asian, and hispanic protestors, laughed, smiled, and even shed a few tears with each other. /10

Eventually Conner and Jaren arrived to pick us out of the riot, and Mary asked if she could hug the officers. They said yes. And there, a black woman hugged a SWAT officer. Some rioters booed, but many nodded in approval. /11

My girlfriend is a goddamned hero, and I cannot be prouder of the role she played in today's protest - because she single handedly made a difference in the lives of those SWAT officers. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life. /12

@shoe0nhead This girl is a goddamned hero amidst the burgeoning Nashville riots.

#NashvilleProtest