Sixty Years Later, A Mom and Daughter Continue the March

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — She remembers looking up and seeing the "giant Peace" belt buckle, her 4-year-old hand held in her father's as they marched peacefully in protest. They marched at the Washington Monument in the nation's capital, they marched in Louisiana, and Dallas, TX.

And every time she walked, hand in hand with her dad, the protest was peaceful.

"I felt very empowered," Melissa A. Robinson-Chavez told Manhattan Beach Patch of those early years walking with her father Marvin E. Robinson, civil rights activist.

Now, some 60 years, 2 months and a few days after her father was among college students who staged a sit-in in 1960 at a restaurant counter where blacks weren't allowed to sit, she and fellow organizers are working together to give their children a voice and an opportunity to address racism.

The event "'Pop the Bubble" on Racism: A Peaceful Protest for Children" is the brainchild of four South Bay soccer moms -- Nicole Alexander, Melanie Barrows, Lisa Bennett and Robinson-Chavez. The women have been working "tirelessly," said Robinson-Chavez, designing a protest activity that would give today's youth the opportunity to have their voices heard and to share with one another what it feels like to be them.

Robinson-Chavez, who has lived in the Beach Cities and now resides in Carson, told MB Patch that her 11-year-old daughter's world and friends are in the Beach Cities where she plays on the Surf and Sand soccer club of Manhattan Beach and attends Valor Christian Academy in Redondo Beach.

And as the protests began after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May, Robinson-Chavez saw a look in her daughter's eyes that told her of her need to speak and be heard.

Her daughter and Alexander's two children will speak at the event along with other local kids, spanning a mix of heritages: Black, Creole American, Korean, Mexican, Asian, and Spanish among them.

Some of the kids have seen swastikas and the "N" word written on walls at school, making a conversation on race all the more appropriate.

"We have to let certain generations have their say," she said.

Initially, the women asked participants to wear black attire to show solidarity with the black movement Black Power and Black Lives Matter. They also wanted the 20 or so kids they thought would attend to be easily able to identify members in their group.

That idea, however, gave way to telling kids to wear whatever colors they wanted since some wanted to express themselves in lively colors. That flexibility speaks to the kind of group the four women have been -- one that is open to hearing from others and making changes to their plans, all in the spirit of educating youth.

"People need to teach their children. Have a conversation with your child, your spouse, your neighbor. Preach kindness no matter the color of their skin," said Robinson-Chavez, whose dad told her and her siblings, "You will bridge the gap between what people think with how you are."

He also was "adamant" that his three children obtain law degrees "because you had to be a doctor or lawyer to get respect (as a person of color) in his day."

Recently, her mom called her from Dallas to ask her to tell her wheelchair-bound father he couldn't travel to Minneapolis or Los Angeles to protest and march with others. "He was upset my mom wouldn't take him. I told him, 'You taught us how to march. You taught how to fight for our rights inside the boardroom of corporate America. Now it's our turn. Let our generation do this."

If these four soccer moms and the kids who will speak are any indication, the generations are at work to "'Pop the Bubble: on Racism."

"It's time for me to walk with my daughter," said Robinson-Chavez. "It's time to pop that bubble and spread the love."

See accompanying story:

Manhattan Beach Protest Set For Saturday at MB Pier