THREAD: President Trump says these protests are professionally organized and the result of domestic terrorists and anarchists. Based on my reporting on the ground today, the vast majority of people gathering outside of the White House are everyday Americans demanding change.

Sulaiman Drammeh, 19, came to the protest across the street from the White House amid a pandemic because he said people need to physically show up to send a message that black people need to be treated equally. He is not a professional organizer. He is a concerned citizen.

Rev Dr Julianne Robertson, 60, the board president of @EmpowerDC said she came to the protests at the White House because as a mother of four black children she said she wants a world that is better than this and that will be a safe one for the generations of her family to come.

AJ Springer, 36, came to the protest because he believes he has been profiled by the police because he is a black man and could at anytime be killed unfairly. “George Floyd could have been me or anyone in my family,” he told me.

Here’s Jaden Olley, 19, of Columbia, Md. Today was his first time going to a protest. He was 8 years old when Trayvon Martin was killed & said he realized then he could die as a result of racism. His message: I’m fed up and want people to know I have as much value as anyone else.

Bottom line: While President Trump continues to lash out at Democrats and invoke the name of Antifa, there are many, many Americans who are coming out during a pandemic to make the case that black people and people of color deserve better from the systems of America.

. @Nettaaaaaaaa, a prominent Ferguson protester, said she came to the WH protests bc she is hopeful that if enough people stand up, we can live in a world where black people aren’t killed by police. She added coronavirus didn’t stop her bc policing is a matter of life & death.