‘Your students are crying’
Pleasant Hills demonstration condemns police brutality, video mocking George Floyd’s death
A group of students, parents and other activists on Wednesday used a Pleasant Hills parking lot to protest police brutality and racism.
Several dozen people, many of them students in the West Jefferson Hills School District, arrived around noon and stood in the lot at the Southland Shopping Center where the businesses — including an LA Fitness and a Five Below — were boarded up.
In addition to protesting the death of George Floyd, a black
man killed while in custody of Minneapolis police officers, the group also condemned a viral video — made by middle school students in the district — mocking Floyd’s death.
Hillary Williams-Hilton, the leader of the protest, started the event. “Your students are crying,” she said. “They are hurting.”
Protesters formed a circle, and students from Thomas Jefferson High School stood in its center.
Zyan Barrett, a junior and president of the multicultural student union, spoke to the crowd.
“I stand here to voice the pain, injustices and inequalities that we face every day,” he said. “We have endured the pain of silence for far too long.”
Near the end of the demonstration, Lamont Wade, a senior defensive back at Penn State University and a Clairton High School graduate, also spoke to the crowd and talked about social injustice.
“Imagine being in a race and being 400 yards back. How are you supposed to win?” he said.
Mr. Wade said the protest was mainly about educating the community in a peaceful manner.
“This is my home,” he said. “It was just nice to have something where I’m from.”
Mr. Wade said he attended other protests in Downtown, including one in which he said was hit with tear gas.
He said he felt hurt after watching the video of the two West Jefferson students.
“But honestly, I wasn’t surprised,” Mr. Wade said. “It kind of hurts to say, but you have to make a positive out of every negative situation. So that’s what we’re doing here right now.”
Protesters later stood in front of a nearby McDonald’s and faced Route 51. Drivers honked as protesters held signs that read “I Can’t Breathe” and “We’re not laughing,” a reference to the students’ video.
Police were present throughout the event, and police tape was used to block off a section of the lot for the protesters.
“This is the first time a lot of these young people have exercised their right to protest, and we just want to make sure that they’re safe and that we support them,” said Pleasant Hills police Chief Brian Finnerty.
“Other people show up to these things to cause violence and distort the message of the protest, so we’re working to make sure that doesn’t happen today,” he said.
About a half-dozen men who were openly carrying firearms at the shopping center said they were not counterprotesters but were there to protect the businesses.
The protest remained peaceful.
“When people destroy businesses in their communities, they don’t realize they’re putting their neighbors out of work, their friends out of work,” said one of the men, who identified himself as Alan B. “We’re here to prevent that from happening.”