The goal is to show that Dayton’s youth cares about serious issues through peaceful demonstrations for justice to be achieved, said Keila Hall, a junior at Bowling Green State University, who said she organized the rally with the assistance of Chris Landrum, an Edison College student, and Dae’ja Hayden, a student at Wright State University.
“The message we intend to send … is that we stand with our police department as long as they are standing solid with us in the fight for change in our justice systems. We mourn the lives taken this week: Alton Sterling and Philando Castile as well as the five officers that lost their lives in Dallas,” Hall stated in an email to this news outlet.
Around two dozen people held a peaceful protest Saturday afternoon on North Main Street near the Key Bank building in downtown Dayton. People held up posters with “Black Lives Matters” and “All Lives Matter” written across them as a man yelled chants through a megaphone.
For Sunday, Black Lives Matters Miami Valley posted on its Facebook page that supporters are encouraged to wear black, and said that demonstrators will line the sidewalks with their signs without disrupting traffic. The organization also responded to attacks on police on Friday, with its post: “Vengeance. Retaliation, Violence NOT the answer!”