Tensions rose on Monday during Charlotte’s first city council meeting since the shooting of Kieth Lamont Scott, with over 50 furious citizens protesting police brutality in the city.
In between the shouts of “Hands Down! Shoot Back!” and “No Justice, No Peace!” a 9-year-old girl named Zianna Oliphant stood in tears, according to the Charlotte Observer.
During her turn at the podium, the young Charlotte native scolded the city leaders in her emotional plea for justice.
“I’ve been born and raised in Charlotte. And I never felt this way until now and I can’t stand how we’re treated,” Zianna said.
She struggled through tears to express the awfulness of being treated differently due to skin color, and the tragedy of so many children losing their parents to violence.
“It’s a shame that we have to go to their graveyard and bury them. And we have tears. We shouldn’t have tears. We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side,” she said.