A 9-year-old girl’s tearful speech has gone viral after she spoke out from her home town of Charlotte, North Carolina, against police brutality.
Zianna Oliphant bravely stood before the city council meeting on Monday to share her personal feelings concerning the death of Keith Lamont Scott and other black Americans at the hands of police.
I feel like that we are treated differently than other people. I don’t like how we’re treated. Just because of our color doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Oliphant tried to be strong as she shared her thoughts, but when she talked about her fears of losing her own life, she broke into sobs.
The girl continued,
“We are black people, and we shouldn’t have to feel like this. We shouldn’t have to protest because y’all are treating us wrong. We do this because we need to and have rights.”
“I can’t stand how we’re treated. It’s a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed, and we can’t even see them anymore. It’s a shame that we have to go to their graveyard and bury them. We have tears and we shouldn’t have tears. We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side.”
This young child, forced to think of things she should know nothing about, speaks the absolute truth. When we dismiss the killing of yet another black man, we are dismissing this child’s grief and terror.
Watch.
Young Zianna Oliphant gives a painful speech on how police brutality makes her feel.
This ripped my heart out. https://t.co/aSzwFjaHUB pic.twitter.com/lHfiYORyia
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) September 27, 2016
