Student member gives first-person account of being injured

I am an African American male born and raised in America. I have experienced first-hand the barriers, issues, and challenges race has caused me.

On May 30, I was covering an event in downtown Reno that started peacefully and tragically turned into something else. The main event, Black Lives Matter Protest/March concluded in the late afternoon in front of the Bruce Thompson Federal Courthouse.

After the event some of the crowd stayed and others proceeded to other sites throughout downtown Reno then defacing property and other public/private items culminating in the destruction of the first floor of Reno City Hall, where the disturbance became highly hostile and resulted in deployment of local law enforcement.

I was hit in the face, back of my head, and kicked, and I lost my glasses. I was saved by my colleagues ThisisReno Photographer Ty O’Neil who pulled me out and Lucia Starbuck, the lead reporter who caught the assault on video.

I feel a sense of situational irony. I am a young black male and I was being assaulted/physically attacked by a predominantly young Latino, white group of people during the destruction of the first floor of the city hall, which was in response to national events and protests stemming from the alleged murder of a black man, George Floyd.

We continued to cover the event, throughout the night and into the next day as a result, I did not seek medical attention until Sunday. I am recuperating at home, following doctor's orders and taking prescriptions at this time.

What I saw on that Saturday broke my heart. At the same time, I also recognize an obligation to show the community that I live in, work in, and have been raised in what was going on in real time. I knew that might pose some risks, but I didn't expect the potential of what happened on Saturday. I know that what I saw on Saturday doesn't represent the community I've known for so many years.

Alternatively, on Sunday morning what I saw to try to fix it made me feel better that Reno, Sparks and Washoe County as a whole can come together and that community is stronger than anything I know. That gives me hope.

I just want to let you know directly for me what happened so that you are aware and that there's no ambiguity of this issue.

I close with this, I respect people’s right to protest, and I also recognize that we as a nation have difficult challenges ahead but I am hopeful that journalism will be there to watch and report that journey.

I am not deterred, scared, or less in love with this profession simply because I got my ass kicked for doing my job.

Don Dike-Anukam is a native of Reno, Nevada. He is a student member of the National Press Club, a recent graduate with an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts/Business from Western Nevada College. He attends Pennsylvania State University studying Digital Journalism and Media. He is a student political writer at ThisisReno.com.