Lotta teenagers out there marching right now—and in Cincinnati, as in many other cities and towns across the country, it’s largely students who are organizing mass demonstrations against police brutality, systemic racism and injustice. Many of them were activists long before the murder of George Floyd (give D&Z Episode 2, Political Nerds , a listen if you haven’t already), speaking out and walking out on issues like climate change, LGBTQ+ equality, gun violence, educational inequality, and yes, racism. So they know the drill. As students of the Civil Rights Movement, they also know that change takes time—but they hope that for the worst abuses of our American ideals, time’s up.
“How many times do we have to keep doing this?” asks Mariah Norman, a rising senior at Mason H.S., on the eve of yet another protest march—this time, remarkably, in her own predominantly white suburban neighborhood. “People aren’t doing this for fun… We are still doing the work because the work never stops.”
The podcasters, from left in the Google Meet screen shot:
Mariah Norman and Ayesha Chaudhry, friends from Mason H.S., part of the group organizing a June 13 march in Mason.
Nadyaa Betts, a co-president of Walnut Hills H.S. Black Culture Club and one of the organizers of a June 12 march on campus.
Asking the questions and recording is Eliot Berberich of Talawanda H.S., a D&Z regular and honoree in the 2020 Democracy & Me Student Voices Competition.
You’ll find more on the current wave of student activism, details of upcoming marches, and a link to an article about protesting safely in the COVID era, on the Student Spotlight page of our Democracy & Me website.
And click here for an action/resource list compiled by the Facebook group Cincinnati for Justice.
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