It was about two hours into Sunday night’s protest and I was surrounded by a hundred or so protestors, marching south on 2nd Avenue, when a well-dressed man in his mid-20s approached me.

“Hey, do you know about how long these things last?” he asked. I told him about 4 hours, but it varied a bit from night to night.

“Oh ok, I’ll probably stick it out for another hour or so” he said.

His name was Sam. Dressed in wool slacks, black dress shoes, and a black-and-grey wool pea coat, Sam did not look the part of the average protestor. Rather, he looked like an off-duty Nordstrom’s employee who got swept up in the crowd while waiting for the bus. We got to talking.

Is this your first time at the protests? Yeah, this is definitely my first time.

And? Is it what you expected? Definitely not. There are a lot more, I don’t want to say lower class because that feels negative, but more young, non-professional people here than I would have expected. I guess I thought there would be more middle class people here. The demographic isn’t typical of people who I would expect to see downtown, office workers and stuff.

You look like you might work in an office. What do you do? I sell vacuums.

Really? For how long? What kind? I’ve done it for about 8 years. They’re Kirby vacuums, really really nice ones. I go to people’s houses and sell them door-to-door. It’s a good job, but the hours are long.

So you’re dressed up because you were selling vacuums? No, I went to a birthday party last night. That’s why I’m dressed up. Then I was in the city watching the game and I hadn’t had time to go home and change. When I was going to catch my bus, I saw the sirens and heard the noise and I figured I’d come check out the protests.

Did you want to see the protests or participate? I guess a little of both. At first, I just wanted to see them. You know, I think like anyone, I thought maybe I’d see something violent happen and maybe I’d have a chance to film it, to document any problems or events. But, after I got here, I found that I was starting to participate. I love this city. It’s my hometown and I always want to stand behind it. If they’re protesting, I’ll protest with them to show my support.

Have you been following the protests? Yeah, I’ve seen the footage on TV a lot.

And how does it compare in person? It’s way calmer when you actually come down in person. The media that I’ve been exposed to just highlights the negative stuff, the outbreaks of violence. But when you get down here, it’s much more peaceful.

There were some not-so peaceful moments though. A girl got arrested. Did you see that? What did you think of it? Yeah, I saw the cops tackle her. She was so small. I think someone said she was only 16 years old or something. I didn’t get a clear view of exactly what she may have done or what provoked it, but I definitely saw them take her down. It seemed way too excessive. She could have only weighed 90 lbs. and several cops were holding her down.

Do you think you’ll come back? Absolutely.

Profiles in Protest is an ongoing series spotlighting local activists involved in the Black Lives Matter protests. Read past interviews with The Maoist, The Donut Lady, The Guy Fawkes Guy, Queen Pearl, The Master Student, and The Happy Warrior.