I saw quite a few tears last night, and not all of them from tear gas. 

One woman, shivering as much from emotion as from the bitter cold said “I don’t know what this all means,” when I asked if she was all right.

A young woman, leading the chant shouting over and over ”Black Lives” as the crowd answered ”Matter” had tears running down her cheeks as she tried to keep her voice from breaking. 

And a man toward the back filming with his cell phone, his eyes were shining too. 

This is what it feels like when the news comes home, when the tension and pressure of a strained relationship between a community and authorities charged to protect - years…decades of tension - comes to a head.