Source: MUSTAFA HUSSAIN / Getty
A 13-year-old activist stole the show at a recent city commission meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The eloquent young lady named Naiara Tamminga attended the May 17 meeting to express her outrage over the killing of another unarmed Black man.
On April 4, Officer Christopher Schurr shot and killed 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop,. According to FOX News, Schurr pulled Lyoya over because the tags on his car didn’t belong to his vehicle. After being pulled over, Lyoya got out of the car and when Schurr asked for his license and told him to get back in the car, Lyoya took off running. After a brief chase, Schurr and Lyoya engaged in a tussle over Schurr’s taser. Once Schurr had Lyoya face down on the ground, he shot him in the back of the head. Lyoya was from the Republic of Congo.
During her time on the mic, Naiara Tamminga gave the city commission a tongue lashing over being “accomplices to murder” and not being worthy of her or the city’s trust.
“You know, we had someone come up here and talk about don’t teach our children to disobey those who are protecting us,” Tamminga said.
I don’t see them protecting me. If you want to talk about those protecting me, I looked at those who are standing right now because my trust is in them,” she said referring to protesters who were in the meeting standing with their back turned to the commission.
“I don’t trust any of you. I don’t trust any of the police officers because you have shown time and time again that we cannot trust you. I go to City High Middle School just voted the top high school top high school in the state. You know what they teach us? Teach us to speak up for yourself we’re Ivy learners, right? We’re smart. None of you are smart.”
She went on to speak about being “terrified” to live in the city due to the police brutality and unjustifiable killings of unarmed Black people. Tamminga shared that she doesn’t feel safe enough in the city to even walk outside with her five-year-old brother or her future children because the people that are supposed to be protecting us are killing us.
“I don’t want to sit here and I don’t have to beg you to stop killing people. That’s not what I want to do. I have friends I have other things that I could be doing and I’m sitting in front of a group of adults who think murder is okay,” she added. “You can’t sit here and tell me you don’t think murder is okay because you’re allowing it to happen.”
Watch her full speech below.
