By Leila Olukoga
A Texas teenager used the outrage over the death of George Floyd to start a business and to try to help make a difference.
Senior Sammi Kwon at Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX formed a business for the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the New York Times, the protests for George Floyd and “Black Lives Matter” were the biggest protest movements in United States history.
“I started [my business] at the beginning of June because I had already donated, signed petitions, and attended protests, but I believed I could do more,” Kwon said. “I already was planning a craft sale for another cause but I thought I should revamp it for Black Lives Matter because police brutality and violence from racism is happening around me in the same city, community, state, country.”
Kwon’s nonprofit organization helps spreads awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement in her community while simultaneously donating to organizations centered around the black community.
After the death of George Floyd on May 25 at the hands of police brutality, the world was filled with outrage. Protests had occurred across multiple countries such as London and Australia where protesters showed solidarity with the black community and its desire to combat racial inequality.
“Each person who bought a keychain would choose one organization to donate to, and we had a set list of which funds we are donating towards,” Kwon said.
Kwon uses the funds from her products to donate to various organizations such as the George Floyd’s Memorial Fund, I Run With Maud, The Advancement Project, NAACP, Destiny Harrison Legacy Fund, Homeless Black Trans Women Fund, Justice for Jamee, and Black Lives Matter Global Network.
High school senior Rija Waqar at Heartlake Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, Canada also was motivated by the demonstrations around the world. She attended and participated in protests in her community. Waqar said that she attended the protests because of the lack of governmental action in her country.
“My prime minister, Justin Trudeau, walked and kneeled with the protesters like he couldn’t fix everything that’s happened with police brutality in Canada,” Waqar said. “His incompetence to accept [that] he is in power and can change these things really baffles me. I went to the Black Lives Matter protest because protests are a way to call out government officials to do something instead of just sitting there.”
Waqar uses her various social media platforms to shed light on black-owned businesses in her community and educate her followers on years of oppression and racial injustice in the black community.
“I have social media with me 24/7 and I have the ability to help out the black community by sharing resources that could educate others on their ignorance or to share black businesses so that they can thrive like they deserve to,” Waqar said. “I will be an ally, I will spread awareness for the black community through any platform I have.”
Kwon and Waqar said that even though the police officers involved in Floyd’s killing have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder as well as aiding and abetting, they will continue to protest and educate those around them on the importance of gaining justice for the black community.
“I was able to learn more about the Black Lives Matter movement in the sense of individuals who had lost friends/family to police brutality or violence from racism,” Kwon said. “We were all fighting for the same cause, and it felt empowering to see that people in my community feel as strongly about [the movement] as I do, and are willing to fight until Black Lives Matter.”