Chants, cheers and music echoed throughout the streets of Richmond on Saturday as demonstrations took place across the city, demanding justice for black lives.
Under the gaze of the Maggie Walker statue in Jackson Ward, a group of young creatives kicked off the day with this message: “We are your future! Let’s go!”
Ballerinas, poets, a dance team, and speakers rallied for a better future for black youth. That included Makayla White, a rising eighth-grader who co-organized the event. She called out educational leaders for teaching a curriculum that often dilutes the depth of African American history. "We are introduced as slaves. That’s not fair or right," White told the crowd. "It has to change."
Her 18-year-old co-organizer, Stephanie Younger, said it’s time for Virginians to defund the police. "Not only as people who live in the capital of the Confederacy, but also in a state that at one point led the country in the most school-to-prison pipelines."
Later in the day thousands marched with relatives of George Floyd on Monument Avenue. From behind a face mask, Tiyrah Fields explained her reasons for showing up: "Protesting for black lives, protesting for democracy, protesting for my future and my children’s future."
Some grassroots activists denounced the “5000 Man March” as a sexist campaign that cooperated too much with the Richmond police. They opted instead to stick with the young people calling for change by the Maggie Walker statue.
