the Trenton Protest

by Nye Smarr

May 31, 2020: One of the most memorable experiences I’ve encountered in my life. Out of all the places I thought I’d go during a global pandemic, a protest in Trenton never crossed my mind. Although the black community has been aware of the oppression that minorities face , the chokehold that killed George Floyd is what awoke the world to the injustices of black people across America. 

Since this was my first protest, I was anxious but eager because I knew that this was the first step of many to change the world we live in. Once 3 pm arrived, my nerves were gone and I was filled with the vibrant energy of protestors around me, as we marched to the front of the State House. The entire journey, we remembered the lives lost at the hands of those whose duty it is to protect us, police officers. The names Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery ignited the protestors with energy and a desire to keep marching for the greater cause, reforming the corrupt justice system. Next, we marched to our supposed source of protection, the Trenton Police Station. We marched with the goal of holding all police officers accountable for their actions. As well as for them to understand that we will not stop fighting for the black community until we are treated equally, like human beings whose skin color should not be seen as a weapon. 

If it was not for the courageous women who helped create this event, led by Jayda Parker, I would not have been able to read the poem, which I crafted alongside my classmate and friend Myrah Charles. While writing this poem, we tapped into our inner emotions at the injustices plaguing the black community. We let our ancestors speak to us, and we shared those words with our audiences. That said, it’s always important to remember that when you speak for you and your experiences, you’re speaking for the experiences of those affected in the past, and providing closure for those that came before you. 

We have to ask ourselves what we are doing to help protect one another under a nation founded upon the lie that this is “the land of the free”? Yet every day we are seeing more individuals’ human rights being stripped away from them. We are the generation that must recognize these injustices within the system and fight for what is morally right. This mistreatment of black people is why we say, “black lives matter”. This is a battle cry for non black people to stand up against systematic oppression, and understand that their privilege must be recognized and used to help support issues that affect the black community. 

the West Windsor Protest

by Laasya Gadiyaram

The protest in West Windsor was my second protest during quarantine. A few weeks prior, I went to the protest in Princeton and was amazed. Even those I would characterize as politically apathetic were standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. At the West Windsor protest, in a town completely different than my own, I still felt this sense of camaraderie. The message of the protest revolved around the concept of Asian allyship. “Yellow Peril for Black Lives” and “My Asian Community Perpetuates Anti-Blackness” were phrases I saw on numerous signs. The protest prompted a conversion around the Model Minority Myth, an ideal that Asians are the model minority of America and an example of how you can supposedly pick yourself up by the bootstraps. It pitts American minorities against each other, and declares Asians as the victors of a game they didn’t even want to play. The protest sparked a realization that this stereotype itself was created as a form of oppression. An ideal that Asian parents prided their kids on was being rejected by the exact people it was supposed to benefit. Kids were waking up and seeing that this mold that they were convinced benefited them, in reality, only benefited the white people who created it. Rather than contributing to a system created with the intention to divide two minorities, they actively worked to gather these two groups together. Acknowledging Anti-blackness within the Asian community is the first step in solving the problem, and actively working to dissolve it is the next step that many are already taking. 

the Princeton Protest

by Julia Oscar

On June 2, 2020 there was a Black Lives Matter rally/march in Princeton, New Jersey, organized by a group of WOC, Valeria Torres-Olivares, Priya Vulchi, Winona Guo, Kyara Torres Olivares, Reanna Bartels-Quansah, Gillian Bartels-Quansah, and Sumaiyya Stephens. This event was sponsored by organizations including Choose, PHS MSAN, PHS PULSE, Princeton Latinos y Amigos, Labyrinth Books, Princeton YWCA, Code Equal, Housing Initiatives of Princeton, Not in Our Town, and The Coalition for Peace Action. 

Over 1000 activists gathered on Nassau Street to protest the relentless killing of black and brown people and the other systemic injustices people of color face in America. This rally began with the crowd silent kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to represent George Floyds death. That may sound short but it felt like it lasted much longer. After the silence was over, the crowd yelled phrases such as “no justice, no peace,” “defund the police,” “white silence is violence”, and many more slogans of the movement while showing off many creatively made signs with similar sentiments. 

At some point in the midst of the crowd, two protesters needed medical attention and a police officer rushed in wearing full riot gear. This officer was able to help get the people safely out of the crowd but many were left thinking, why would they need riot gear at a peaceful protest? This did cause some tension to rise in the crowd and a few to feel fearful but this tension was soon broken by the speakers. 

There were five speakers, Imani Mulrain, Sumiayyah Stephens, Ruha Benjamin, Tracy K. Smith, and Reverend Lukata Mjumbe. Each called for systematic change in America rather than small scale reform. Benjamin reflected this by saying “Our elected officials have outsourced a long list of social problems to police that they have no business dealing with…We are not going to diversify, train, or tech-fix our way out of this social crisis. Rather we must take th e money we would normally incest of police and reinvest it in all the other institutions that we actually need to sustain us.”

After listening to the speeches many protesters marched through the streets of Princeton. Also although the organizers requested that people socially distanced, most were crowded together but almost everyone in attendance was wearing a mask. 

the Lawrence Protest

by Jermaine Meisel

My experience at the protest held at Lawrence High was a very eye opening experience. Walking in the front of the line with my friends I was just expecting something bad to happen, but that moment never came. The entire protest was peaceful and I am grateful for that. The few breaks we took from walking when we kneeled on the hot pavement, the leaders spoke about how George Floyd’s entire body was on this hot ground. We were told to really feel it. As we chanted we got honks of approval from the cars driving by. Now of course the actual protest was important but it was the talks and speeches after that really stuck with me. A boy Jordan with his heartbreaking speech, Jermaine and Ariel with their moving poem, it was amazing. I hope that the Black Lives Matter movement really sticks with the world and that the wrongs get right.