SAN DIEGO — San Diego protesters fighting for justice and change say their efforts are being muted by the violent actions of a few.
A protester on the front lines wants people to be aware of the efforts protests are making to self-police.
Kenneth Raffael Gray documented his 12-hour journey with video clips as he marched with protesters through downtown San Diego on Monday.
In a video posted to his Instagram account, he can be heard commenting, "It's so peaceful right now. I want everyone to see just how peaceful it is right now."
Gray said he's frustrated that actions of peaceful protesters are being overshadowed by images of violence.
"We were not part of any of the looting, any of the unrest," he explained.
During Sunday's protest downtown, Gray got caught up in the tear gas. He said it came without warning as musicians were playing and people were dancing in unity.
So on Monday, he said he wanted to show how peaceful the protests have been. He documented much of his journey on video, in order to spread their true message, calling for justice and the end of police brutality and discrimination.
When darkness set in, however, his video shows that some people in the crowd got unruly as a person was being arrested.
Gray, an Army veteran, joined the protesters' front lines, yelling at the crowd, "Please stop, please stop. We got this far, please stop," pleading with everyone to stay peaceful.
"They're building a wall to protect the police," Gray can be heard saying in the video.
"I was screaming 'please stop' in fear of it escalating and all of our hard work that day, all of the miles that we walked that day, to come down to one bad moment that that would ruin the entire day," Gray explained.
"That was such a powerful beautiful moment and I'm just so happy to be able to be a part of it."
Gray said protesters protected police more than once and continue to do so, and he wants everyone to see that these efforts are happening. He said it's inspiring to see people of all colors marching in unity.
Still, he said, as he turned to walk home around midnight, rubber bullets began to fly.
"We are running for our lives," he shouted on video, "They're shooting at us."
He said he saw the rubber bullets break glass and knock people down as they ran without warning. He hopes law enforcement will see that most of the protesters are peaceful, and will stop the practice of firing rubber bullets aimlessly into the crowd.