“Every White person needs to critically think about their position in the movement and how we can fight to make it a movement with longevity, rather than a reactionary movement,” Grant-Bolton said. “It’s difficult to want to continue maintaining this work and maintaining that drive for change when so many people in my community…haven’t sustained their determination for this work at all.”ĮTHS senior Anna Grant-Bolton said she finds the loss of momentum frustrating.Ī member of both SOAR and EFBL, Grant-Bolton said she has recently seen fewer people coming to events and having the “courageous conversations” that are central to the fight against racism. “It’s upsetting, honestly,” Parisien said.
While 67 percent of American adults supported the movement in June, only 55 percent support it now. On a national level, the Pew Research Center found a significant decrease in Americans’ support for the Black Lives Matter Movement since June 2020. While many White Evanston residents attended protests and events immediately following Floyd’s death, Parisien said she has since noticed attendance shrinking. “Looking back at everything I’ve been able to do, it shows young people have a lot of power to make the change they want to see in their communities.” Members of Evanston Fight for Black Lives at a September fundraiser event following the shooting of Jacob Blake. “In Evanston, the people who are organizing and carrying this movement are young people, and I want to make that super clear,” Parisien said.
EFBL has also met with City Council, organized protests and redistributed donations through a mutual aid fund. Through these organizations, Parisien is leading equity workshops to discuss antiracism, at her school and at other Evanston schools. Since the police killing of George Floyd last spring, ETHS senior Mika Parisien has been working as a board member of both Students Organized Against Racism and Evanston Fight for Black Lives. Evanston Township High School students are continuing to educate the Evanston community and press on racial equity in the city, even as they say the momentum behind last summer’s wave of antiracism action has fizzled.
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