And older Americans have been adding their voices and perspectives to those demonstrations.
Either way, to hear them tell it, these new protests feel different.
Here are some of their stories.
They were dressed in riot gear and on horses, on foot and on the rooftops.
Some were lying down in the street.
I went over to the side to pray.
I went down on my knees.
The police are ready to move.
But she eased me up.
When I opened my eyes the police were coming straight at us.
Ive been protesting a long time.
I started in the school system seeing how black kids were being treated academically and emotionally.
It was always a constant struggle.
Im tired for my people.
The police are not going to magically do the right thing.
Racism is still alive.
It was exhilarating to see so many people of so many ethnicities.
It made me so proud; we were looking like what the whole city looks like.
The other exhilarating thing for me was to see all of the signs of protest that people carried.
I had one with our organizations logo and the words Internalize Oneness.
They havent internalized it.
You cant have it both ways.
To me that doesnt equate.
My husband is white, blond with blue eyes.
And he and I will never, ever refer to each other as an interracial couple.
We were third-generation Japanese American, European American, African American, Latino.
[The groups founding] was in response to the silence about racism.
You know, whenever you do mention it, its Pass the sugar like.
You dont talk about it.
Theres something different about this.
I went to a protest that was huge, several thousand people.
Theyre thinking and feeling and putting up signs that say what they feel.
And people here keep on creating different forms of protest.
People are being really creative.
Theyre starting to realize that we cant progress as a country unless we start to deal with this.
I went on a ride-along with the Baltimore police six or seven years ago.
