In the year 2020, the fight for equality has been a large topic taking over communities. One fight in particular in our community is for a young man named Elijah McClain. LHS junior, Ava El-Jammal, attended one of the protests for Elijah. She took the move to fight for equality and gain justice for Elijah McClain after he was wrongfully murdered by police in Aurora, Colorado in August 2019.
Ava El-Jammal attended a few other marches and protests. She did not attend the BLM protests this past summer, but after they ended she spent time cleaning up the city to still show she cared without being involved in the intense protests happening.
“The protest community is something good to be in. There are so many others around you who also believe in the same cause and also want to make a difference in their community or even the world,” said El-Jammal.
When asking El-Jammal why she was inspired to attend the protest, she mentioned that the death of Elijah McClain had happened in the neighborhood right next to hers. She was unaware of it until months later when it was finally announced publicly, which really bothered her. She wanted to show that it was not okay and never would we think the Aurora police would hide something like that.
That really made me very tense in the heart because I felt that my community was hiding something from me.
El-Jammal on why she was inspired to attend the protest
“I believe that Elijah McClain was a completely misunderstood, innocent, male of color that got wrongly accused of being suspicious. The fact that the person calling in the suspicious act saying he was not showing he was not showing any violence, not carrying a weapon, just looked suspicious; the police should have just checked in and not ran up to him, scared him, and not understanding his background of his mental and physical health. He was just wrongly accused and it is utterly disgusting. When giving him the drugs they knew exactly the dosage they gave him, knew what they were doing, and still proceeded to do so. That is not the community we should be trying to have,” said El-Jammal.
Walking to the protest, everything was extremely peaceful. There were others there who tried to uprise violence and different hate group stuff, but overall everyone was very calm, singing, and doing their specific community chants.
“I learned the community chants when I was there so I was able to chant along,” said El-Jammal.
It was peaceful until the rally police came and began to jump out of big trucks came in and changed the tone. It was almost a situation where they wanted to cause the change in the tone.
After attending the protest, when the police began to intervene, it put El-Jammal into a different mindset and gave her a different perspective on the world around her.
“It [attending the protest] will make me approach [any] setting differently and understanding how a presence of a very violent known force being there just really changes the whole dilemma of everything. This is such a big deal for all generations and if you have the opportunity to understand what is happening right now you should. This can highly affect us when we are older. I want to be able to say `I know what is going on.’ ”
When there is something I believe in and there is an opportunity to show it, I will go.
Ava El-Jammal
A picture of El-Jammal attending the protest made it onto the @justiceforelijahmcclain Instagram page. She felt that it made her being there was known and heard. They were showing all the different races there and the sense of community was there.
I’m doing it for my friends. I’m doing it for the community. I am showing that doing that is not okay.
Ava El-Jammal on why she went to the protest
Attending protests is a great way to become involved and active in global issues, especially when you are not able to vote due to age or it not being an election year. Protests give you the opportunity to show your support for your friends, community, and equality. If you have the chance to let your voice be heard, take it.