BOISE, Idaho — Boise has had several peaceful gatherings this week in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
One local photo in particular has recently gone viral. It's from Tuesday's vigil at the Statehouse.
The picture was posted by Jason McNealy on his Facebook page. It shows him wearing a mask with a crowd behind him and the caption reads "my city standing with me."
"Just seeing everyone come together in a peaceful way did my heart really good and I wanted to capture an image so I could reflect later on and show my kids and family that number one, I was standing up for the cause, and number two that Boise is showing a lot of support for the people of color that are experiencing this hardship," McNealy said. "It just really made me feel really good and was something I wanted to share to let everyone know, yeah we're going through some hard times right now, but people can come together peacefully for some positive change."
The St. Luke's surgical tech has lived in Boise his entire life. He was born here, went to school here, got married here and had kids here.
"This peaceful vigil made me proud to call Boise my hometown," McNealy said.
He says there is injustice and he has conversations with his kids often about it. Especially his 15-year-old son.
"You know, how to act in a situation when you're confronted by an authority figure, what you can say, what you can't say, how to stand, how to act, how to speak, things like this... it was a conversation I had with my father at his age and it's a conversation I constantly have with him because it's important for him to know that you have to present yourself a certain way. It isn't necessarily right but it is what it is right now and I just want to be able to give him tools in order to survive as a young black man in this society," he said.
Thankfully he adds that he does see awareness coming from recent events. It's happening for some of his friends and co-workers right now.
"Once I shared my perspective with them I think it's kinda eye opening," McNealy said. It's something most Americans don't have to deal with so I totally understand how it's hard to see it from a perspective when you haven't experienced it yourself but there is an outpouring of empathy and sympathy out there and I think people, while they might not understand, they want to help. They want to be able to contribute in some way and me, myself, I really appreciate that, it says a lot about the human condition."