Today marks the fifth anniversary of the first day of protests in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, a town of fewer than 20,000 people, in indigenous Secotan homelands, where the Pasquotank River empties into the Albemarle Sound on the Atlantic coast.

Three days earlier, local police fatally shot Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old unarmed Black man and father, fleeing police in his car while they were serving search and arrest warrants on drug distribution charges.

For three weeks, protesters demand the release of police body cam footage. When selections are released, interpretation of the footage varies. Some accuse Brown of attempting to drive into the officers before leaving his driveway. The officers involved are not charged. The Brown family sues and is awarded a $3 million wrongful death settlement.