On May 20, Mike Brown Jr. would have turned 22. A day before his birthday, about 50 high students and supporters marched to the police headquarters in St. Louis city.
Student organizers said they did not realize the significance behind their chosen date for the Student March for Black Lives on Saturday, May 19, which was also Malcolm X’s birthday. They believe it did not need to be on a day of significance.
“This is a pre-emptive action,” SLU High School student Damen Alexander said. “We don’t like being engaged only after the bullets are fired. We want to show that we are always watching, and we are always engaged. We are still here, and we are expecting change.”
As part of the action, students held a die-in where they held a moment of silence for all the nine individuals who were killed by city police in 2017. Alexander said that the St. Louis city police department kills more people than any other police department in the country, according to statistics he read in the Riverfront Times in December.
City cops shot a yearly average of more than five people per 100,000 residents from 2010 to 2016, according to the report. That’s nearly double the rates for Chicago, New Orleans and Philadelphia – the next three departments on the list.
“We are in first place,” Alexander said, and it’s by a lot.”
In a statement to the RFT for the December article, St. Louis police said, “Policing is a dangerous job and often requires officers to make split-second decisions. While the numbers you referenced in your inquiry paint a picture, you must take into account the circumstances, and examine each incident on a case by case basis.”
In response to the student march, a police spokeswoman told the American in a statement, “The students were able to exercise their First Amendment rights while the police department maintained public safety.”
State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed marched alongside the students and spoke at the rally in front of the police headquarters.
“I’m here today because it’s 2018 and we still have people thinking it’s 1818,” Nasheed said. “I’m here today because too many people in this country see brown skin and they call 911. At Starbucks. At Nordstrom’s. At a family barbeque. On the front steps of their own home. For too many people in this country – they see us as ‘less than.’”
Malaika Pedzayi-Ferguson, a junior at Crossroads College Prep, echoed this sentiment in her speech. In her neighborhood north of Delmar Boulevard, she has a neighbor who fixes flat tires and another one who cuts everyone’s lawn on the street.
“But they are all considered bad because of the little black street they live on,” Pedzayi-Ferguson said. “Several weeks ago, there was a fire across the street from my house. A couple of houses were completely burned down. The effects of the Delmar Divide and redlining are that no one cares for these houses or the people that occupy them.”
The damage and neglect to her community is systematic, she said.
“The bottom line is we need you,” Pedzayi-Ferguson said. “We need you to care for communities that aren’t your own. The less fortunate. The redlined. Communities that have been quite literally blacklisted. Black people deserve better than subpar housing because black houses matter. Black safety matters and black lives matter.”
The Students for Black Lives group formed this spring, Alexander said, and there’s a large crossover between students who are also involved in Students Demand Action and March for Our Lives – two students groups fighting for gun legislation reform. Kirkwood High School freshman Lily Dayan and Devin Corley organized and led Saturday’s march.
During the die-in, Brianna Chandler, a junior at Nerinx Hall High School, said she was staring up at the police headquarters building.
“I started to wonder how well funded it is,” Chandler said the crowd right before they dispersed. “I started to think that it’s probably more well-funded than some of the inner city schools. How some people always tell black people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps but they don’t even give us quality schools to get our boots in. It is so important for us to keep showing up so they know that someone is watching.”
Brianna’s father, Solomon Chandler, marched behind his daughter to show his support.
“There is so much change that’s needed in the community,” Solomon said. “I admire that this generation is taking a stand because they are going to be the ones that affect the change. They are all going to be turning 18 and voting soon. They are woke.”
