Students March for Breonna Taylor

Students have joined protesters days after Breonna Taylor decision

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Abraham Navarro

Kevin Welbeck, a Cre8 the Change organizer speaks in front of the LAPD’s Hollywood station on Sept. 26, 2020 during a protest against the court ruling of Breonna Taylor’s case. Photo by Abraham Navarro/SAC.Media.

Since Wednesday students have been seen marching with protesters following the grand jury decision for the case of Breonna Taylor.

Protesters gathered in a large group Saturday morning in Hollywood to march in protest of the court ruling. According to a post by In This Together Los Angeles on Instagram, the march was scheduled to start on Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue. Protesters marched westward passing the Warner Pacific Theater towards Wilcox, and then proceeded south to the Los Angeles Police Department Hollywood Station. There at the front-steps of the police station, protesters were seen carrying signs and chanting.

Among them was Arlos Silverman, 14, a high school freshman who started his first year at Cleveland Humanities Magnet High School. “I’ve been here since week one since George Floyd died and I know it’s not going to be the same results next week no matter if we get justice or not,” Silverman said. “I’m just hoping that everyone comes out and continues to come out even when it’s not a trend, because I think we are sick and tired of walls getting more justice than people.”

Arlos Silverman, 14, stands in front of the El Capitan Theatre as part of a demonstration organized by Cre8 the Change on Sept. 26, 2020. Photo credit: Abraham Navarro/SAC.Media. (Abraham Navarro)

Silverman felt disgusted after discovering the news about Taylor’s case. “I remember I was in my bed scrolling through Instagram and I saw it, I just couldn’t believe it. I had to look it up because I thought it was going to be fake news or something like that, but it’s absolutely sickening.” Silverman had been coming out to march with his parents.

Another student, Missy Gibson, 19, who originally moved from Texas to Moreno Valley and then to Los Angeles for school at the East Los Angeles Community College, was marching with protesters as well. “I’ve been out here around since they started and since we’ve been marching it’s still kind of been a weird space,” said Gibson. “Especially being a black woman seeing how you are truly underrepresented and literally disrespected by the government that you’re supposed to trust in, and that’s supposed to protect you.”

Gibson told SAC.Media that she feels disrespected. “The black woman is truly disrespected by even the government & the people who said they were going to be there for them.”

Gibson, who was accompanied by her mother, shared how she felt being in Los Angeles during these times. “How it makes it feel is even more unsafe than I already was, because being a woman in Los Angeles I already have people honking at me just because how I look and then being a black woman has additional critiques,” said Gibson.

She feels like a civil rights war is currently taking place leading to the final verdict of the movement. “I hope that is the case, however, the way the laws are set up and the way policemen and that whole organization is also set up, it’s going to be a long battle but hopefully it happens.”

“It’s not going to be an easy one either since [the police] have holes to protect them from certain allegations and prosecutions.”

The Hollywood protest was led by Cre8 the Change, an organization which “aims to empower communities and channel passion towards practical ways to effect positive social change.”

Kevin Welbeck, a Ghanaian-American and Cre8 the Change organizer, led the march and presented his message from his megaphone. “Please stand against oppression, stand against police brutality, stand against hate, stand against it all,” Welbeck said. “We are on assignment y’all, every week there are people dying everyday for being black and being brown for the color of their skin–in 2020 people are dying still. We really want change to happen.”

Christian Brousbarb, 30, and his daughter Aubrey Qyevedo, 4, march in Hollywood on Sept. 26, 2020 in protest of the grand jury decision on the Breonna Taylor case. Photo credit: Abraham Navarro/SAC.Media. (Abraham Navarro)

Welbeck shared his thoughts to the crowd of protesters while standing in front of the Hollywood Police station. “We really want our policing to change, we want our justice system to change. So we don’t have to worry anymore that we’re going to get a phone call that our brother our sister our sons and our daughters our fathers and our mothers our uncles and our aunts that they were killed today because they were pulled over, or because they were sleeping at home and somebody thought they had the right house and they didn’t” he said.

“We are here for a reason so stay focused and be back next week and be back the week after that until you see the new way America has changed–justice for all blacks.”