On Monday afternoon, four black teenage girls, followed by more than 1,000 protesters, shut down traffic in the middle of Chicago in the name of Black Lives Matter.
“We grew up reading about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in history books, but what’s happened over the last year has made us realize that this isn’t just history,” says Lewis. “It’s been a shock to our generation. We want to end this so no generation after us has to go through what we did.”
Seventeen-year-old Melissa Flores came to show solidarity as a Latina, saying the “both Latinos and African-Americans are put down by the same system.” Though she’s had plenty of options (Monday was the fifth day in a row of protests), this was her first Black Lives Matter event.
“Even at this age, I’m afraid for his safety,” says Harris, who is black. “I know it could be him one day.”
With Monday’s protest, teen activists find their moment in a movement#
