Local Student Leaders Organize Community-Wide Teen Protest at Santa Monica City Hall

Santa Monica, CA, December 12th, 2014: Local high school students, disappointed by the recent lack of justice for the victims of police brutality Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner, turned their disappointment into motivation by organizing a large, youth-based protest in their Santa Monica community. The movement began when the students decided on impulse to walk out of their school and circle the block to join a national walk out on December 5th. Inspired by the act members of the Student Council and student body collaborated to plan another peaceful protest that would involve not only students attending their school (Santa Monica's New Roads School) but also many other youth in the area.

Zolee Griggs, a student organizer, said: "It's important that the youth's voices are heard because we do care about social issues and we want justice just as much as any adult should. We're doing this to honor the lives of the lost loved ones, and spread awareness within our community, and the world we live in."

The protest began will begin on Friday, Dec. 12th, starting at 3rd Street and Wilshire Blvd. at 3pm. Around 3:30 the students will walk to Santa Monica City Hall and continue their nonviolent protest there. Students from New Roads, New West, santa monica high school, Crossroads, and other schools came will come to help support the call for change, crying "I can't breathe", "No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police", and "Hands Up Don't Shoot" as they marched to City Hall.

The protest organizers are energized to keep the movement going and continue advocating for peaceful change in our nation.

Amanda Gorman, another student organizer, said: "I am so glad that our community can unite peacefully around these issues. We've shown that the youth of our world don't want to sit back and wait for the world to get better. We want to change it together, here and now."