BY SARA TABIN
Daily Post Staff Writer
More than 100 Palo Alto teenagers crossed Highway 101 during a protest against police brutality against black people this afternoon.
The teens then marched down University Avenue shouting “black lives matter,” “prosecute the police” and “no justice, no peace.” They ended their protest in front of City Hall where they took a knee and had a moment of silence.
Palo Alto police blocked downtown streets as the teens marched.
Some kids on skateboards hung onto the back of one of the police cruisers. People in cars honked in support and waved as the teens passed.
Palo Alto High School student Paige Thomas said she found out about the protest from her brother who heard about it on social media. She said white people need to stand up for the black community.
“This is for every African American affected by police brutality,” said Emily Osagiede during a speech in front of City Hall.
Osagiede was one of the few adults in the protest. She said she saw the students marching and jumped in.
She said that she was proud to see the students taking a stand. Osagiede said Trayvon Martin was killed when she was a high schooler and back then her classmates didn’t support her.
Osagiede, who is black, told the Post she first experienced police brutality when she was five and watched officers pull her father out of his car.
Miles Breem, a recent Paly graduate, said he heard about the protest on Instagram and came to show support as a white ally.
This is crazy. Kids are just using this as an excuse to act out crazy and vandalizing stores. Police should put a stop to this and arrest them. We are not even out of a problem and here they are starting more trouble to the economy. Please shut them up and open the stores. If they truly cared about Me. Floyd they would protest peaceful. But what they are doing is Criminal!
Ana,
as being one of the kids there I can assure you there was no violence, only peace as this was the goal.
please educate yourself before commenting stuff like this. no kids showed violence. even if they did, the black community has all the right to be angry and show their frustration. arrest them for what? standing up for a community and showing their support? something that you could never do. your privilege is showing. check yourself.
Since when been in a peaceful protest is a criminal activity none of these kids did nothing wrong they did not destroy anything
Now you are telling us that the economy is bad because the kids were protesting you are so wrong
@Ana Chavez I was at this protest, none of us were violent, I’d love to see your sources, when did we vandalize stores? The police were theres blocking the streets for us, and since when does the economy matter more than people’s lives? The economy was already going downhill because of the inadequate response our president had, sad to see you care more about material goods than human lives. When did a roll of toilet paper become more valuable to you than a human life? Please educate yourself, where is the compassion? We are fighting for the basic human rights of African Americans. Imagine being oppressed for just breathing, imagine being shot in cold blood for going on an afternoon run. It’s easy to sit back and say this ignorant stuff when you’re complacent. Please read The New Jim Crow.
Ana, these students staged a peaceful protest. I am very proud of them. I imagine most Palo Altman’s feel the same way.
I’m proud of peaceful protestors on the Peninsula. Please listen to them now.
Darn spell check! Palo Altans, not Palo Altman’s.
As American why should we Tolorate Police ♀️ Brutality…. I agree they should get what police DESERVE… Those ♀️ Police Didn’t think on what it was Causing that Poor American… MAY HE RIP.. that EX POLICES EARN WHATS COMING TO THEM .. BIG TIME JAIL SENTENCES ..Amen …
I’m proud to see kids in our neighborhoods standing up for this, and demonstrating a peaceful protest. They should have our full support, this is exactly how we can send a message of support. And remember to vote!