Plainfield Youth Organize Protest Against Racism

PLAINFIELD, IL — Two Plainfield students organized a protest to raise their voice against the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man whose demise was brought on by a Minneapolis cop kneeling on his neck.

Victoria Santowski, a junior at Plainfield East High School and Ella Hornberger, a senior at Plainfield South High School were at a protest in Shorewood when they conceived the idea "to make it bigger," Santowski said.

"We wanted to show people that they couldn’t ignore it, even in the suburb," she said.

At 12 p.m. on Saturday, over 100 people met near the Plainfield Public Library and congregated near the Walgreens off of 59th and 126th streets.

"I am as furious as anyone else about the death of George Floyd," Santowski said. "I believe that this was the breaking point of civil rights activists, along with Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many more blacks who have been brutally murdered by the police recently."

She said the Plainfield police did not interfere but were monitoring the situation in case the demonstration turned violent.

"These protests are so important right now because everyone is sick of innocent blacks being wrongfully killed in the streets," Santowski said. "We are tired of these cases going right over everyone’s head, like it never happened. We are in the year 2020, time for change has been long overdue."

While many parents have been concerned about endangering the safety of their children and thereby not allowing them to participate in protests, she said her father has been supportive of her opinions.

There were concerns about a group of people banding together and its potential to exacerbate the coronavirus-related situation, but Santowski said everyone wore masks and maintained social distancing.

"Spreading out on each corner of the intersection was especially helpful," she said.

Despite the looming threat of the pandemic, Santowski said this was necessary because it is important for "us young people to voice our opinions because we are the future."

"Generation Z is going to stand together to make change. It is our job to educate and involve younger generations in this movement," she said. "There is so much strength in unity, and I believe our generation has the power to change the world."

She said she understands she is not black and will never truly understand the struggle, but she will stand in unity.

"I think that the next cop who tries to kill an innocent black man or woman on the street, will think twice about it. Even if we cannot change their mindset, they will remember the chaos, they will fear us fighting back again, because we will not stop," she said. "This is not a war between whites and blacks, this is a war between humanity and racism.