PORTLAND, Oregon — Outside the Apple store in downtown Portland, Emma Berger works on the finishing touches to a mural she painted earlier in the week.
A few days prior, the boarded up store front had glass windows.
Friday night and into Saturday, a protest over the death of George Floyd the black man who died after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, turned into a riot. Windows were smashed, stores broken into and thousands of dollars of merchandise was stolen.
The Apple Store, with it's big windows facing Yamhill Street in Portland's downtown, took a beating.
The next day plywood replaced shattered windows and would eventually be painted black.
On Monday, Emma Berger went for a walk.
"I had taken a walk around noon just to see all the boarded up everything. I walked by the Apple building and it was all painted black and I felt like they had made a canvas for me."
She went home and grabbed what she could and came back. Taking it upon herself to paint a mural honoring a man she didn't know and protesting in her own way.
"It's such an important cause and everyone has to protest in the best way they can. Not everyone's place is out in the streets. Not everyone's place is doing triage, not everyone's place is even on social media," Emma said, "Everyone's good at something different and I can paint and I can paint really, really big things."
Berger started with George Floyd's face and added the words, "I can't breathe" along the sprawling storefront. She painted the faces of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Abrery, the faces and names of those that millions around the world are demanding justice for.
"It's not an isolated incident, there's a lot of faces to be remembered."
The mural has become a focal point in a quiet downtown still shutdown because of the coronavirus. During Thursday's lunch hour, the few that were walking around stopped and took pictures, laid down flowers at the base of George Floyd's painted face and stopped to reflect on why America is where it is today.
"With everything going on, I just think it's a strong expression of emotion and people have to get it out. It's been happening for so long, it's just built up anxiety and built up pressure that eventually just explodes and people want change," Devon Horace said.
Horace was riding his bike downtown after seeing the mural on Instagram and wanted to check it out for himself.
"I just think it's beautiful, just being able to express oneself through art and being able to have a place where people can come express their feelings. Good, bad or indifferent," Horace said.
Berger said her message is simple, "Enough is enough and this needs to stop. People are finally getting a loud enough voice to stop it and make some change. Everyone needs to help in whatever way they can."