Protests against police brutality and racism: scenes from small Texas towns and cities

George Floyd, a black man raised in Houston, died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Video of Floyd's death ignited protests in major American cities and all around the world, with the footage captured of his final moments serving as yet another example of police brutality against black people.

The deaths of other black men and women, like Mike Ramos, shot by police in Austin, or Breonna Taylor, killed by officers in Louisville, Kentucky, also fueled protesters' rage and sorrow as they took to the streets night after night, where they were sometimes met with force. Texas' largest cities — Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin — were no exception, but the protests were not confined there.

From the far West Texas town of Alpine to Tyler in the northeast part of the state, from Midland in the Permian Basin to Edinburg near the Texas border with Mexico, from San Marcos to the deep southeast town of Vidor, Texans turned out to express their rage and their sorrow. Texas Tribune photographers across the state documented some of those protests.

First: Protesters held signs during a Black Lives Matter protest in Midland on May 31. Last: A protester walked down the middle of Eighth Street in Odessa on May 31.

Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune

First: Protesters carried signs condemning police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter as they marched down Broadway Avenue in downtown Tyler on June 3. Last: Demonstrators march in Tyler in protest of the death of George Floyd.

Courtesy of Sarah A. Miller/The Tyler Morning Telegraph

Protesters marched in memory of George Floyd in Vidor on June 6. Organizers of the rally in Vidor, historically known as a "sundown town," said they wanted to change the reputation and move on from the past.

Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune