Hey guys!

Today I went to my first protest. Students walked out of sixth period at 2oclock and went to the police department to protest. People had signs and there was a news person and helicopter documenting the events. All in all, I’d say that it was a pretty eye opening scene. 

About 3 hundred students were there. Sure some people only went to skip class, but the student organizer from the Black Student Union quickly weeded out who really wanted to stay when she said that we would have a die-in. A die-in is where we had to lay on the floor for four and a half minutes to recreate how Mike Brown’s body laid in the street for four and a half hours. Although there were a few people who don’t understand what ‘Be quiet’ meant, almost everyone was silent. 

Before the die-in, one of the other girls read a list of other people who died by police brutality and reminded everyone that there are countless other people who had died from police brutality, but didn’t get blown up by the media. 

Then the organizer opened up with a few speeches from a few people in the Black Student Union who spoke about change and how us as students must pave the way to change. 

She opened up the floor for other who wanted to speak. A lot of students talked about how they were scared about being next or how they lost someone to police brutality. 

The protest was peaceful and organized. After the speeches, there were a few chants then we went back to school. Yup, we actually went back to school. The protest ended with about fifteen minutes of class left so we had to go back. 

I’m really glad that I was able to do the protest. I was the only one who left the class, but I’m glad that I’m not the only one who showed up. I know people argued that we were in danger of getting shoot at, but that would only happen if someone started to get violent. There were school administraters and the school principal was there because she supported our right to protest. They walked with us to the police department and made sure we were alright. That’s dedication to the job. 

I’m proud to say I participated in the protest. If people want society to change, we as citizens need to change it. We can’t just wait for someone else to come along and change it for us. People have to actively want change for any progress to be made. All I want is for my family in Illinios to be safe from what’s happening and for my future kids and the generations after me to live in a future where they can feel protected by the police. Instead of being afraid of even going to the police department in fear of getting shot for exercising our first amendment.