Aalayah Eastmond, Parkland School Shooting Survivor, Leads Protest Group in D.C. Demanding Racial Justice
Aalayah Eastmond, a criminal justice major at Trinity and lead organizer behind the group Concerned Citizens of D.C., was interviewed by CBS 12 News about the Black Lives Matter movement. Watch the interview here CBS 12.
Parkland school shooting survivor leads protest group in D.C. demanding racial justice
by Kara Duffy, June 10, 2020, CBS 12 News, Florida
As thousands of people gathered in Houston, Texas to say their final goodbyes to George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody over two weeks ago, his final moments alive continue to spark outrage and protests across the country.
Aalayah Eastmond is just one of many now demanding racial justice through the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The energy is amazing,” Eastmond said. “I think it’s great to see all these people. Black people, white people come together and talk about the issue of black lives and how we don’t matter as much here in the U.S. and we should.”
The 19-year-old is a student at Trinity Washington University in Washington D.C. and a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland.
In her classroom alone, six students were shot, two of them killed after a gunman opened fire on February 14th, 2018. After the shooting, Eastmond became an activist in the gun violence prevention movement.
At a recent protest, Eastmond talked about the experience.
“Seventeen of my classmates were murdered. Thirty-four were shot. The perpetrator from my school shooting had a chance to walk to a Subway, get a drink, walk to a McDonald’s, get a sandwich, walk through a neighborhood then get peacefully arrested. But George Floyd has a knee to his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds for supposedly a bad check?”
Eastmond is now one of the lead organizers behind the group Concerned Citizens of D.C.
“There was a lot of energy but no organization and people often left the protests here often wondering, ‘What’s next? What can I do now?’ So we took it upon ourselves to create our own group.”
She says every other day they have a protest planned with a clear purpose for the day; from pushing for police forces to end brutal practices like choke-holds to demanding justice for other killings of black men and women.
“I think it’s awesome that we are talking about George Floyd and I think his name and his story is extremely powerful in this movement, but I think it’s also important that we talk about Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, and Breonna Taylor.”
Eastmond says the Parkland school shooting helped spark her passion for activism and find her voice; a voice she will not silence.
“A huge difference for me is now I am extremely unapologetically black. I no longer assimilate or censor myself for the comfortability of others and I think that is very important as a black woman because we often find black women having to do that in a lot of spaces and I just put my foot down and said no to that.”
Eastmond also stressed the importance of having conversations with your friends and family about issues like racism, saying it may be uncomfortable to do so at first, but its through that discomfort change can be made.
This was originally posted on CBS 12.
