LA MESA, Calif. — The peaceful protests are being carried out in the streets across the county, and on social media - with one man’s stream going viral.
You might know him as #FindArturosBag.
On Sunday Arturo Gonzalez was on his Facebook Live streaming the protests when he lost his bag and thought someone stole it. The memes and hashtags led to 30,000 people watching on his Facebook Live when he was detained for unlawful assembly Sunday night in Downtown San Diego.
“Maybe it has a lot to do with my bag being stolen, like, 'where's Arturo's bag?' That's not what this is about. The reason I was out there in the first place you know, fighting for black lives,” said Gonzalez.
He said he wants to use this new fame and following to spread awareness about black lives.
“I want to use it towards good not only for this movement, but later on I want to give back to the community," said Gonzalez.
During his interview with News 8, several people recognized the 20-year-old. One woman yelled from her car, “I love you Arturo.”
Arturo has protested every day this week.
“I get thousands of direct messages every day, ‘are you going to go out there, are you going to go out there?’ It’s really crazy," he said.
The interview with News 8 was at 32nd and Imperial in Stockton, where there is a mural of civil rights activists.
A painting of Harriet Tubman’s face was vandalized along with other black activists. It’s believed to have been vandalized before the recent Black Lives Matters protests, but Arturo wanted to meet there in hopes that someone would help clean it up.
Arturo is a young Hispanic, LGBTQ man, who grew up homeless and has had his struggles. It is deeply rooted him to fight for justice.
“A lot of us are angry. I'm angry as well. Every day I see more and more videos that are released of people killed by these cops abusing their power. It makes me so angry,” said Gonzalez.
Arturo said he understands the health concerns related to COVID-19 while protesting, but believes the racial inequality is a much bigger virus.
“Just like we are fighting ‘corona’, we're fighting for black lives,” said Gonzalez.
He said no matter how exhausted, callused and sore his feet are, he will continue to fight for black lives matters.
“My body may be weak, but my mind is strong. I'm not going to stop until we receive justice,” said Gonzalez.
Many have reached out wanting to donate to Gonzalez to help buy him a new bag but he asks that you donate to funds that help Black Lives Matter.