Incredulous, the crowd questioned the transit police officer about why the child was being detained.
Someone in the crowd asked for the phone number of the boys mother.
She was called and was soon there talking to police.
Credit: Atria Books
According to news accounts, the boy was released from police custody and went home with his mother.
Soon, a chant started to billow throughout the mass:
We gon be alright!
We gon be alright!
Christopher Polk/BET/Getty Images
In months past, the movement had escalated beyond peace and became violent at different points.
But that was the temperature of the time.
We were tired of trying to overcome and wanted equal treatment right now.
The action was captured on video and instantly went viral.
It came from an honest place, from a hole of darkness and personal torment.
It just happened to connect with the masses.
I remember seeing the ways in which these issues were being touched on, Garza tells me.
The main message underneath it was morality, like, What are we teaching our kids?
It was a dose of reality for lots of people, and that rarely gets into the mainstream.
He was still working, still keeping his head down in search of the perfect project.
It was angrier, denser, and made for headphone listening.
Kendrick had so much respect from everybody, Robert Glasper tells me.
He spoke to the jazz cats, to the music nerds, to the backpack rappers, the gangsters.
That album touched everybody.
