Student Activism: Planning the Protest in Encinitas

Planning the protest was definitely a group effort amongst the ten or so students involved. It was an incredible experience protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement and #8cantwait alongside fellow high school students and community members. It really took every ounce of effort within our collective group of student organizers to pull it off. Throughout the planning phase, there were a variety of responsibilities and needs within the group, such as getting the word out through social media, making and managing an Instagram, organizing meetings, painting signs, and other tasks. Personally, my responsibilities were to create a marching route and a schedule for the protest (which we loosely stuck to). With the marching route, I had to consider many factors such as safety, accessibility, and the areas we wanted to target. I created multiple route options for our march, all taking into account one of the most important aspects of the march: protesting with our signs and chanting at a busy intersection in order to draw the attention of the people in the area and the cars passing by. As a group, we collaborated on nearly every aspect of the protest and made sure that everyone was heard. One thing we noticed was that our group of organizers was mostly made up of non-black people of color, so in our protest, we dedicated time for speakers from the crowd to amplify the black voices in our local community. All of these aspects were a part of our vision for this protest, but everything is simply an idea until it happens in person. So many factors were dependent on the number of people who showed up. Our group started out hoping for even 100 people to show up, so we planned as if there would be 100 to 200 people in attendance. Up until the last 24 hours before our protest, we were oblivious to the magnitude of our following, and later, we were even concerned about too many people showing up. Nothing could have prepared us for the love and support from the nearly 400 people present. At the actual protest, I will admit that it was awkward for the first 20 or so minutes; people from across the county showed up and everyone just kind of hung around waiting for something to happen, while we, the organizers, wanted to wait for more people to show up. Once we began marching, I did not have that initial awkward feeling, but rather, I felt as if everyone present was united for our common cause. Being at the protest was surreal for me. The organizers did not plan on changing our route until the very last minute while we wanted to leave the intersection. Looking back, I had to scramble to look for an alternative route that would take us back to Moonlight Beach because we wanted to extend our route. With about 400 people following my lead, it was without a doubt a nerve-racking experience. I will never forget the image of the ongoing crowd of protesters pouring back into Moonlight through the small ramp. Once we settled back into our location on the beach, hearing the speeches from members from the black community was extremely powerful and impactful for me. Hearing the black voices definitely furthered my desire to take action and be an anti-racist in all aspects of my life. For me, that includes calling out family and extended family in order to combat antiblackness in the Asian American community.

BY: SCOTT VU

Martha Contreras leading a group of protesters at the student-led protest in Encinitas. Photo courtesy of The San Diego Union Tribune.