'My Voice Is Something That Should Be Used': Youth Taking Prominent Role In Movement Spurred By George Floyd's Death
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Hundreds of people participated in more protests Saturday in Minneapolis, decrying police brutality and calling for justice for victims of police violence.
Black Lives Matter organizers and other activists chanted George Floyd's name outside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.
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Names of other victims rang out, too, including Philip Quinn, who was shot and killed by St. Paul police in 2015, and Travis Jordan, who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police in 2018.
Several young people put on spoken word and musical performances. Starr, 17, rapped a song she wrote, that included the lyrics, "Why the cops be killing us because we don't look like y'all? I wanna put them in a cell but that just ain't my call."
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"I wanted people to really feel where I'm coming from, because I know my perspective on the situation might be different than everybody else's," Starr said. "But just being 17 and a part of the youth, like I just felt like my voice is something that should be used."
The Native Lives Matter Youth Alliance also joined the rally after holding their own solidarity event in Loring Park. Indigenous Americans like Allen Michael say their people often feel marginalized.
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"Native Americans got less than the short end of the stick," Michael said. "We didn't get a stick, and if we did get a stick, they took it from us."
After the rally at the government center, protesters marched about a half mile northwest to the Minneapolis Police 1st Precinct building.
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