On Sunday, October 1st, thirty-two Kent students rode on two buses filled with posters and the spirit of protest to New Milford after a restaurant in New Milford owned by an interracial couple had had racist comments sprayed onto their building.

The march organizers explained the need for the march saying; “Our sense of urgency to organize this march is also motivated not only by national marches protesting past racist demonstrations at Charlottesville and insufficient response by the Trump administration but also by the recent incident of a racial, anti-Semitic defacement of the local restaurant in New Milford, owned and managed by the Thompson family, an interracial couple.”

Upon first arrival, the new generation of protesters were welcomed. Samuel Eszenyi ‘21 says, “It was really cool. You saw us, 32 teenagers, with the older generation. We listened to old protest music and heard about what it was like when they were our age. You could see that they were glad we were there.” There were many good speakers, but one man stood out; as he chanted, “There is no room for hate here.”

At the march, there were community leaders from the school’s social-activism clubs: Spectrum, Animal Rights, Model UN, The F Word, and Social Justice. One of the Co-Presidents of the Social Justice Club, Morgan Zee,‘18, says: “The reason we started the Social Justice Club is that there wasn’t enough dialogue on campus about social issues. The goal of the club is to embrace diversity and equity on campus. There isn’t enough of that.” These clubs are starting change both on and off campus, the protest was just their first step.

Students want these events organized, Sevie Browne ’19 says. “I went to the march because I wanted to do something like that for a long time, especially with my classmates. I’m in the feminist club, social justice, and the animal rights club. I really appreciate big groups and everybody being able to share in a movement, people being able to share their opinions with each other. It’s really special.”

Aay-Janae Taylor ’21 went “for a lot of reasons, but the Black Lives Matters Movement was the most prevalent thing in my mind. My poster said “Black Lives Matter.” The movement emphasizes that black people are on this earth, we exist, and we deserve equal rights.”

The march was brought out all sorts of students. Sally Yu ’20 says “I don’t consider myself a feminist. I haven’t thought much about it. I don’t know what determines ‘being a feminist.’ I just don’t think of myself like that. I went to the march because I wanted to support everyone’s rights. I went because I thought it was interesting. I think social justice is really important.”

In contrast, the Co-Head of the Social Justice Club, Maddy Zee ‘18 says, “I definitely consider myself a feminist. I think a lot of people think this is just about women’s rights, but it’s not. This is about equal rights.” Adding to that, Nicole Miara ‘20 says, “Well, I consider myself an intersectional feminist because I believe that we talk about all rights in feminism, not just women’s rights but black rights, LGBTQ+ laws, immigration, gun control. That all matters. It’s important to fight for what you believe in.”

When asked about social justice on campus Gretchen Christophe ’18 says, “Two social justice issues I see on campus are lack of awareness and urgency to learn about current social justice-related events. The march gave us the ability to let our voices be heard and displayed how every act of injustice can have a powerful reaction by people who care and want to make effective change. It allowed us to be in an environment of like-minded people.”

Building off of that, Zee commented:  “Sometimes Kent can feel like a bubble. I want to see more of us doing things both inside and outside of the Kent community. I want to see Kent school progress forward and try new things. I want people to know what’s going on in the world outside of this bubble too.”

This march left an impact on the students that attended. Browne says, “It’s really important for people of different and diverse backgrounds to share their opinions.” This march presented a rare chance for people of all walks of life to come together and for Kent students to step out of the “bubble” and make their voices heard.