Rochester students organize protest in the Med City

Hundreds of people marched from Martin Luther King Jr. Park to Mayo Park in protest of systemic racism.

Starts right now./// good evening and thanks for joining us ?

"* i'm calyn thompson.

As protests continue to sweep the nation after george floyd's death, more made their way to our area today.

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"*t news t zach gilleland joins us live where rochester youth organized the latest demonstration.

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"* hundreds of people gathered at m?

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"*k park earlier today and then here mayo park for a call to action to end systemic racism and police brutality.

Th protest was organized by rochester students, some that just graduated high school a week ago.

I had the opportunity to speak with 17 year olds jaida crowson and yezi gugas, two of the organizers who attended last week's protest.

Take a look.xxx "black lives what?

Black lives matter.

Black lives what?

Black lives matter."

"i didn't think that there'd be so many people being here and honestly it feels great to see so many people in my community support me because at this moment it feels like the world is turning against us and seeing all this makes me feel liberated."

"my message today was to tell about my experiences growing up in rochester as a black woman."

"i began to tear apart my black features.

I looked at my melanin infused skin and i wished it would go away."

"encourage people to change this because we've gone through two generations and nothings changed and generations before us, nothing has changed."

"please raise your children to love and to accept every single person they meet."

"we have to speak up and i ask that everyone else here who came here today and who's listening also speaks up."

"when i say eric you say garner, eric garner, eric garner."

"i'm exhausted, sick and tired of fighting for people to acknowledge that my life matters."

"i know a lot of the times where there's a racial incident that happens i gets swept under the rug, they get suspended for a couple of days and then there's no follow up, there's no education, there's no, here's what's wrong and here's why it's just 'oh you did this, we're going to punish you and move on."

"today with this same exact hand that i use to pledge allegiance to the united states of america, i lift this mic up to speak about the injustices that have been done.

"hey hey, ho ho, racist cops have got to go."

"you are loved, you are seen and you are heard."

Gugsa said they received donations from people in attendance.

She said those donations will help them with organizing new protests going forward.

In rochester, zach gilleland, kimt news three./// masks were required for the event.

All protesters were asked to maintain social distancing./// scheduled