DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, some people want to join the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. But the risks of the coronavirus pandemic keep them from marching. One solution - caravans.
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GREENE: From Salt Lake City and Tallahassee to Kentucky and Wisconsin, people are demonstrating in cars, trucks and minivans. NPR's Camila Domonoske heard from protesters during a recent caravan of cars.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Surya Kishi Grover has taken her 6-year-old to street protests in San Francisco. They maintained social distance. But her toddlers...
SURYA KISHI GROVER: With an 18-month-old and a 2-year-old, they're not following directions that well.
DOMONOSKE: In this caravan, the whole family could pile into the minivan with signs like Asians for Black Lives.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: No justice...
SURYA KISHI GROVER AND UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: ...No peace. Abolish the police. No justice, no peace. Abolish the police.
DOMONOSKE: Elsewhere in that caravan, also recording her protest for NPR, was Fran Culp, who has medical issues. Elena Fong was driving and cheering, too. Her daughter is immunocompromised.
Editor and local business owner Erin Feher organized his caravan. She'd never done that before. But she had just followed an activist group on Instagram who posted about a Zoom call with tips on how to plan a protest. She wanted to offer a safer option during this pandemic. And after attending protests in downtown San Francisco, she also wanted to bring that energy into quieter neighborhoods like hers.
ERIN FEHER: To be so close yet live this very peaceful, kind of unbothered existence was bothering me.
DOMONOSKE: Feher planned a 17-mile loop through San Francisco. And inspired by the activist on that Zoom call, she told herself that five or 10 cars would be a success. A lot more showed up.
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DOMONOSKE: Chloe Jackman's photography studio is along the caravan route. She watched for two hours and could still hear the honking when she went inside.
CHLOE JACKMAN: This was probably 1,800 cars. I mean, it was unreal.
DOMONOSKE: Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRAY FOR SOUND'S "THEY GAVE UP LOOKING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
