The following is a conversation with The Fem Word high school correspondents Meera Dahiya and Saira Rathod. They spoke with Walt Whitman High School students and activists, Racheal Adeoti and Lekha Kachoria, from Bethesda, Maryland, who helped to organize a large protest as part of ongoing nationwide demonstrations against the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The crowds, made up of predominantly white demonstrators, swelled to 1000+ people in attendance.

FOX 5 News in DC reported that a “compelling moment, before the march, came when everyone in the gathering raised both hands in the air at once (as protesters are often seen doing when they chant, “hand-up don’t shoot”). It was then that the hundreds of protesters, with their both hands raised, repeated an oath not to stay silent about “racism, anti-blackness or violence.”

Black Lives Matter Demonstration, June 2, 2020, Bethesda, Maryland

Meera Dahiya:
Hi I'm Meera Dahiya and Saira Rathod, high school correspondents for The Fem Word. Right now in DC, protests and riots are occurring for the Black Lives Matter movement. Following the death of George Floyd, students from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, organized a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Bethesda, Maryland on June 2nd. Racheal Adeoti and Lekha Kachoria are both students who helped organize the demonstration and Racheal also spoke at the march.

Saira Rathod:
Why did you guys choose to get involved in the Black Lives Matter movement?

Lekha Kachoria :
I got involved a little bit later, but it's something that’s so important and it's such a basic idea that every single person should be equal in our country. It's stupid that it's not already happening and it's so important that everyone's aware. Everyone should be educated in this predominantly white city, which was also one of the goals of the whole protest. I think we did just that. The goal is to educate and raise awareness and we did that pretty well.

Racheal Adeoti:
I've been ranting to my friend Karla about the Black Lives Matter movement, especially around Bethesda, but the only people I saw getting involved were a few white girls from the Whitman community. Most of the football team was silent. Most of the soccer team was silent. Most of my friends were silent. I call some of these people my best friends and they haven't even spoke out. So Karla asked if we should we do something about it. She said we should have a protest calling them out. But I said that we should have a protest to educate them because I feel that there's a lot of ignorance in Bethesda. So, we started adding people and our whole goal was to keep people safe, social distance, and to educate them. I don't understand how people say all lives matter instead of black lives matter. People need to understand that as white people, they hold a lot of power. They hold a lot of power in society and black people can't do anything about a system that they didn't create. It's up to them to educate themselves. As someone who goes to Whitman, I've sent countless messages to people trying to educate them, but it gets exhausting because it's not my job to do. The school system fails us. So, we made a document and we tried our best to do what we could in three hours.

Meera:
You had a huge turnout at the march with 1,000 people in attendance. How did you help organize and plan this demonstration in Bethesda?

Racheal:
I made a group chat with Karla and we started adding people that we thought could help. However, it became too big so we made a separate one and assigned people tasks but it was the most stressful thing I've ever had to do in my life. I didn't sleep for three days. Did you see me having panic attacks? The night before, we had to call the police because we couldn't get a permit. Then we had to change the location because more people were coming and we wanted to stick to social distance guidelines. Then we were scared for our safety because of white supremacists. My friend couldn't even give her speech because that was a huge threat. It was really hard to organize, but we did it eventually.

Saira:
Wow. That is so impressive that you did that in only three days and from your house. That's insane.

Racheal :
Thanks.

Saira:
Racheal, your speech was powerful and inspiring. I've heard little clips of what you said and we loved it. So what was your thought process when you were writing the speech?

Racheal :
Funny thing, we spent most of the time planning, so I only wrote my speech the night before. I was just writing and I think I wrote it in under an hour and I wasn't even thinking. I just wrote how I felt. As someone who goes to Whitman, I've always wanted to speak out about racism, but every time I do, if it's not about black person being killed or someone saying the N-word, people think our voice doesn't matter. My friend Molly spoke out about cultural appropriation and she got shut down and bullied by Whitman students. When black people are telling you that you're being racist and you're not listening to us, then how do we move on from this? So I've always wanted to speak out, but every time I do I’m shut down. So it was just a bunch of like all my thoughts on paper.

racheal adeoti

*“When black people are telling you that you're being racist and you're not listening to us, then how do we move on from this?”*

Meera:
As an African American student in a predominantly white community, what message do you want to spread to the Bethesda community? I think you touched on this a little bit but have you had conversations with your peers about racism?

Racheal :
I actually mentioned this in my speech. I once brought up police brutality to my friends and they brushed it under the rug. At that time I felt like I couldn’t even run around my own neighborhood because of that. When I run around here, sometimes I go places and people stare at me or parents try to approach me and then I run away because I hate confrontation. I can't argue with parents, so I just leave. But I bring it up to my friends and they act like my reality doesn't exist. Like it's far beyond their experiences that they can't relate or they just don't want to talk about it and it's really hurtful. I realized that I took so much crap at Whitman that I should not have. I said to one of my friends that if I were to cut off everyone who had been racist to me, I would have no friends. So I just have to take it, which sucks. I've definitely tried to talk about it but people don't really listen.

Meera:
Would you say that a good step forward would be having non-black people able to have these conversations and actually listen to other experiences?

Racheal :
I think that minorities should lead ‘One Whitman’ [an initiative by the school administration to promote open conversation about race and other important issues] next year because a lot of the teachers are racist. I know a teacher who openly says the N-word and it's published in the Black and White [school newspaper] and he still works at the school. A lot of people are ignorant and no one knows what black people go through besides black people. We don't really talk about it. I feel like the teachers are approaching it, but they don't really know where to approach it from. So if they gave students a platform to talk about their experiences, then that would be a lot better than what Whitman is doing right now.

Saira:
This is for both of you and going back to the march in Bethesda, did you guys face any challenges or pushback when you were organizing the demonstration or even during the event?

Lekha:
Actually, the police in Bethesda were very cooperative. They worked alongside us the entire time. It was a joint effort. My friend, Jamie, and I we were leading chants as the march was going on to fuel everyone up and Racheal and everyone else were leading aside. I think the police acted as escorts, too.

Racheal :
I actually have a comment. The police were helpful, but we have to keep in mind that they were helpful because the majority of the people were white but if it were in a black neighborhood the protest would not have gone as well. They would not have helped us. The police were talking to Jamie [white student] about how they were going to let us march but then when they were talking about looting and violence, they looked only at Tati [black student] and they were like, yeah, no looting, no violence. Then when you were talking about it being peaceful again, like they were looking at Jamie. We put up the signs around Bethesda and when we walked back, people had taken them down. The place we were supposed to march at, someone put bricks there and also some mom went into Bethesda screaming that black people were going to come and destroy their neighborhood. That's why they started boarding up and saying to not let the black people come and like destroy our neighborhood.

Meera:
If you can, describe the march and what are some moments during the march that you felt powerful as an individual or as a student group?

Racheal :
I'm not going to lie I didn't want to go to the march because of COVID-19 and everyone's safety. But the cops were the ones who told us that we should march, so we did, and it was really powerful because it was a bunch of female teenagers leading a group of adults. Apparently there was a group of old people in the back, with their canes, marching with us. It was just really powerful because it was literally a line of girls, young teenage girls, leading a bunch of adults and people of all ages and races. The youth has such a platform. We think that because we're young, we can't do enough. But, honestly, I feel like we really need to push change and people need to start talking to their parents about their race. I know within the colored community, like in the black community and the brown community, there's a lot of colorism. People like you better if you're lighter. I feel like people of our generation really need to start calling others out.

Saira:
Wow. Going off that, when you look at the crowds, does it make you feel hopeful about the future and seeing a real change.

Racheal :
The thing is, a lot of racist people do come to these things. I know so many kids who have discriminated against me and I saw them at the demonstration. I was like, wow, so now you're here screaming black lives matter, but then you don't do the little things that actually affect the larger picture. So, a lot of people do care about life, but they don't really care about black people. It made me feel a bit iffy that the person who called me a racial slur or had said something was in the crowd, marching with us. Unfortunately, it doesn't make me feel optimistic because I'm not optimistic about America. This country really needs help, but it makes me feel like work can be done. We just have to do it.

Meera:
Lekha, do you have anything to add?

Lekha :
I saw everyone there in a big circle when we all met, and I remember there were a couple of people next to me, like this one black girl. She was doing the chants at one point and then she saw the police, just a couple of them were walking forward, and then she said to her friend "Oh no, the police are coming. We gotta go. We gotta go." So, there's always still that instilled fear that shouldn't be there in the first place. Like Racheal said, we should be optimistic, but you have doubts that this country will ever make a change because it's been such a prolonged experience of these kinds of things. It almost feels impossible, but yes, keeping up this kind of behavior and leadership is what will create change and it's everyone's collective effort. Certain people are inflicting this kind of pain and it's just ignorance and ignorance is a choice now. You have at the click of your phone, a million resources, so it's straight up ignorance if you're not choosing to support this, it truly is.

Racheal:
One of my friends sent me a message and they were like, "yeah, you guys are the good ones. You weren't destroying our city." We have accepted racism so much that like black people are so used to it. I have had so many people be racist to me, but I'm not going to go and tell other people like, "Oh yeah she's been racist to me", I'm just going to let society deal with them. Racism is systematic and institutionalized. So, even if you redo the whole system, like destroy the justice system, racist people still exist in society and they will still find their way back into power. There's a lot of work to do, but hopefully we will get there eventually.

Meera:
So you guys are high school students and it's incredible that you put this together. What do you think the impact is of students actually leading this movement?

Lekha :
Well, I know my mom posted on Facebook after all of this and got like a billion comments. They talked about how this is the generation of change and how we need to listen to our young people, and honestly we should. Young people are woke. We read more and we don't have all of these beliefs that are set in stone like older generations. It's almost like talking to a brick wall when you're talking to them. So yeah, this protest was led by teenagers and I was stunned that it was able to be done and that so many people came and listened to us. I didn't think that would happen. I thought it was going to be a couple hundred people from Whitman, but it turned into like 1500 people. People care what the youth have to say.

Racheal :
There was a mother at the event she was crying and she said, "My daughter told me she had to come to this" and her daughter said to her mom, "I don't care if you're going to take me, mom, I'm going to go, whatever you say" and the mother was worried about her coming because of safety and with COVID. However, the mother brought her anyways and I thought that was really touching because she wasn't a person of color either. She told me that she was really moved by what we had said and done. So, I feel like the fact that her child was willing to go to those lengths and cared that much, it opened her eyes to what was really going on, especially with our generation being so immersed in black culture. I feel like people don't speak out about it enough. When your favorite rapper dies, it's all over the internet, but when a black guy dies, people are like, well, the police had the right to do that and he was resisting.

Saira:
What are common misconceptions about this movement and how do you address them?

Lekha :
I think a big misconception about this whole movement is that people are still drilled on the idea of "all lives matter." They're like, "How can you say that black lives matter? Do you mean my life doesn't matter?" They still think that it's not just black, and it's not that all lives don't matter it's just who we're focusing on right now. Black lives need help right now and everyone should be there for support. I think people almost take offense to saying black lives matter because they're just like, "what about me?" and it's really narcissistic.

Racheal :
Like ACAB. I don't know if you know that, but it stands for "All Cops Are Bastards". I don't think we spoke on that because cops were there and we were scared, but basically people are like, "No, not all cops are bad. Not all culture about that." However, how I explain it is where do the bad apples come from? It's the system that's breeding them to be this way, no matter what race you are, whether you're black, Asian, or brown. Once you're behind that badge, you stand for a corrupt system. You were trained to. You don't even see your own people as people anymore, and people don't understand that.

During his presidency, Nixon wanted to basically crack down on the black population and put them back into prisons because America lost a huge labor force. So that's what they were trying to do and this is the same police system we have today. I'm not sure if they're all still forced to work. I know in certain states they are, but it's that same mentality people have. There are white supremacists in many positions of power still and they're going to continue to be in those spaces until there is change.

Meera:
What do you think the next steps for this movement are? This movement clearly resonated with so many of our peers and do you think the next step would be for young people to go out and vote or what other steps can we take?

Racheal :
Voting is important. People need to focus on the local levels too. I also feel like education is huge because ignorance is insane. It's really bad. People don't even know why the police system is the way that it is. History fails us immensely. I don't know if you guys have heard about the Tulsa Massacre, have you guys heard about that? Did they teach us that in U.S History? Basically, a bunch of white people stormed into Tulsa and murdered almost 300 black people. 9,000 black people became homeless only because one black guy was accused of raping a white women and black guys are accused of that all the time. We know that. I don't know if you guys have seen, "When They See Us". That show will make you hate society. People really just need to educate themselves. A lot of people hate, but they don't even know why they hate. They're racist because it's been passed down and they were taught that. Slavery was the product of capitalism. People still don't like that black people aren't their property anymore. They still want to enforce those ideals and people don't understand that.

Lekha :
Yeah. I'm not black, so I don't know what a black person goes through. I'm Indian and I still face racism, but I still don't know the extent of it. My parents are not immigrants, but they're first gen and so they have that mentality like, "Oh yeah, hard work. We had such a big support system. You'll be fine." So, it's such a huge thing to have dinner table conversations because if you're preaching on your Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms, but you can't get it done at your own house, that's where it needs to start. If you can get your mom on board and then your mom talks to her friend, it'll spread like that. I feel like just being a different minority, like a South Asian one, it's so important to support here.

Meera:
What are some ways that people can get involved in this movement? Protesting of course, but what else?

Lekha :
Signing petitions, donating and educating yourself. Like Racheal said, I think Netflix is putting up educational movies and shows on this topic. Reading books is also helpful. The 17 page document that the group made is full of stuff that you can do. Full of resources that you can look at. So just going out of your way to learn. It's all about educating yourself in this Bethesda bubble because barely anything directly affects us. So, it's so important to keep educating yourself and keep reading. Keep listening to all your friends that are going through this right now. It's just teaching yourself. You have to. If the school isn't going to teach you, then you have to yourself.

Racheal :
I think I'd say stop being performative because a lot of people on social media will post something or say something, but don't just show us. Do something for the cause. People don't understand the economic power we have. America is capitalism. That is all people care about. Don't support the businesses that are contributing to these problems and pressure them stop buying from them. Start supporting black businesses. Start uplifting the black community because they are so downplayed. It's like I live in a different world from most of the Whitman people. I watch black movies. I listen to black everything. All of my YouTubers are black because I already see white people everyday. I need to see people who look like me. My favorite show is Insecure because it shows dark skin girls who look like me and there's such a lack of representation everywhere. So I feel like you guys and other people need to help uplift the black community. Let’s normalize seeing black girls on TV.

Going to Whitman being a dark skin black girl is hard because a lot of people don't see you as girls, they see you as black girls, and black girls aren't seen as beautiful by society at all. When I go to group events, I don't even really expect anything. I don't expect to have prom dates and stuff, and that's not necessarily because I think that I'm ugly, but I feel like other people don't see me how they might see other girls. Once you get used to something, you understand it more. People don't understand or care. They don't understand black culture, but like they still do it and that's why cultural appropriation is such a big thing. So I feel like just more representation, education, not being performative. Actually email council members. We're going to try and do this thing where we challenge people to send 10 emails and do 10 things and they might get a t-shirt or something just to encourage people to pressure those who are in charge of making these laws.

Meera and Saira:
You guys are awesome. You did such a good job. Racheal and Lekha for having this conversation on The Fem Word and being a voice of change for the young generation of Americans. Thank you guys so much.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the interviewees, and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Fem Word organization. Any content provided by interviewees are of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

When Students Protest..A Thousand People Follow