Moving through the pulsing mass of angry activism outside the White House, a handful of people are providing help and first aid to police and protesters alike as enraged Americans register their dismay with the police killing of George Floyd.
Morris Crawford, a former U.S. military combat medic, toted a backpack filled with medical supplies through the streets Tuesday night just outside Lafayette Square, the front line in a standoff between demonstrators and an endless line of troops armed with truncheons and riot shields.
"I came out here to help to spread my word, but also to help people who are injured," Crawford said, straining to be heard over the gas mask around his neck as protesters seethed against the two-metre fence around the park, taunting and shouting at officers.
Over the course of the night, the troops would occasionally return the sentiment, advancing their formation menacingly towards the fence, prompting the agitators to hoot and holler in anticipation of another fight — a clash that, on this night, would not materialize.
"I'm loaded down with medical supplies," said Crawford, jerking a thumb toward his bulging military-issue backpack.
"My goal out here is if I see someone injured, I'm running to help them. I don't care where they are at, cop or non-cop, if someone's injured I'm going to try to help them."
One pair of Good Samaritans dragged behind them a wagon loaded with water, snacks and bottles of milk (to ease the sting of pepper spray), urging eager protesters to take whatever they needed.
Others moved through the crowd, squirting sanitizer into outstretched hands — a pointed reminder of the threat of COVID-19, which stalks Americans through the tensest cultural crisis since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Another woman brandished a chisel-tipped marker, writing a D.C. phone number on people's forearms for them to call should they suddenly find themselves in police custody.
"Who wants a bailout number?" she shouted. "If you're scared, go home."
Protesters have been roiling the streets of U.S. cities nightly for nearly a week since the death May 25 of Floyd, whose final eight minutes of life under the knee of since-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin were recorded on cellphone video.
Chauvin is facing charges of manslaughter and third-degree murder; Minnesota's attorney general was expected to detail later Wednesday whether charges would be laid against the other three officers involved in Floyd's arrest.
Like his fellow guardian angels, Crawford was moved by Floyd's death to join the protests, which he's now done for three nights. But he has a personal motive as well, describing a confrontation with D.C. police four years ago that he's convinced was a result of the colour of his skin, even though it was a clear-cut case of mistaken identity.
"I had a cop's gun pointed at my head. He thought I was the guy he was chasing — not even close," he said.
"Next thing, I'm outside, on the ground, until they finish running all my information and everything, and they told me pretty much that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I needed to get the hell out of there."
Crawford said he wants to see the protests spark lasting reform in law-enforcement circles — third-party committees to adjudicate incidents of racially motivated abuse, education programs to help officers learn the insidious nature of racial profiling and mechanisms to ensure departments do a better job of policing their own ranks.
The ranks of the protesters swelled dramatically Tuesday after Donald Trump staged a dramatic display of police aggression and political opportunism that prompted Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to issue a public statement diverging from the president on the use of active-duty troops and to explain his use of the term "battlespace" to apply to American soil.
During the supper hour Monday, authorities — a mingle of police, Secret Service officers, Department of Homeland Security agents and others — used tear gas, rubber bullets and mounted officers to clear the intersection of protesters before Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr, Esper and officials strolled through the square for an awkward Bible-brandishing photo-op in front of a historic, protest-scarred church.
Trump has promised to take a hard line with lawless protesters who have set fires, smashed windows and looted stores. There was little of that late Tuesday, thanks in large part to the fence that now surrounds Lafayette Square, as well as some within the protests who shouted down those lobbing water bottles or shaking the barrier.
"The crowd has done a pretty good job so far of policing itself, calling out the instigators and keeping it from escalating to that point," Crawford said.
"I'm of the group that says we've been peaceful, and we need to stay peaceful. As soon as we start escalating it, what we're trying to tell them gets lost in the noise."