Students Rally Against Police Abuse at SM City Hall

About 50-60 people attended a rally to honor the victims of what organizer Amanda Gordon called "Police abuse. Our goal was to bring awareness of the issue to our community, whichwant to keep the dialogue about race and equality going with numerous other nonviolent protests and events in our community," said Gorman, a SamoHi student.

Fellow student organizer Zolee Griggs told the crowd: "We stand here today not for ourselves, but to honor the lost lives of far too many victims of police abuse. We stand here to let those families of lost loved ones know that we empathize with them and we support them. We stand here to let our justice system know that we will not passively accept these injustices."

Amanda Gorman also addressed the marchers, standing here at City Hall: "Many people said we should cancel the protest because of the rain. But if students can march in Birmingham against fire hoses, we students can walk in rain. Change doesn't come in sunlight. Change comes in darkness. Change doesn't wait for a sunny day--it comes when there's rain and lightning and thunder. Today, all of us show that we are willing to walk through any storm to make change come."