NORTHAMPTON — When Zion Barbour grows up, he wants to be a wise old man.
He hopes younger generations will look to him for stories about racism, something they cannot fathom because his generation will have made it extinct.
Barbour, the president of the Students of Color Alliance at Northampton High School, was one of more than 300 people who gathered Tuesday evening in front of City Hall for an event titled Stand Up for Black Lives.
The crowd spilled onto Main Street, halting traffic for more than an hour as activists shared their stories and demanded change.
“We need to open up this dialogue. We need to force change. We need to help our people of color. We have to work together, because as long as our brothers are forced into a life of crime, the government will continue to justify our genocide,” Barbour said.
The protesters gathered to call for racial justice and protest the deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Minnesota, two black men who died at the hands of police last week.
“I am not a thug because of the color of my skin, and a person of color is not a bad person because they have a criminal history,” Barbour said. “Rest in peace to those who have fallen, and remember the one in front of the gun lives forever in the memories and the melodies of the people.”
The event took on a different tone from earlier social justice rallies and vigils. The protesters were ready to fight for change, and they made clear they do not intend to be quiet.
Event organizer Lois Ahrens, founder of the Real Cost of Prisons Project, told the crowd there would not be a moment of silence for the victims as there had been when protesters gathered Nov. 24, 2014, to honor Michael Brown and express outrage over a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer who shot him.
“There has been enough silence. We need outrage, we need anger,” Ahrens said. “We need outrage and noise to honor Philando and Alton.”
Ahrens led the crowd in a chant, yelling “stand up, speak out, enough.”
Northampton City Councilor Alisa Klein, one of the event’s organizers, said people of color should be put in positions of power whether they be educational, political or business-related positions.
Klein came under scrutiny for her comments in another Black Lives Matter rally following the lack of indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014.
Two activists who identified themselves as V, 21, and Afropanther, 25, though not scheduled to speak, asked for the microphone to respond to Klein, asking white people in the crowd not to clap or cheer for their comments.
“Putting black people and people of color in power would have been to maybe stop giving your speech and let us speak instead. It is our lives, we are being killed … I am terrified to exist in this world” V said. “What are you doing outside of coming to these vigils? … You can’t come to these white savior benefits and then think you’re doing your part.”
The pair said actions speak louder than words. They invited people of color to join them on the steps for candid speeches and called on white people in the crowd to do more than just attend rallies and vigils.
“Where are you? When I needed you guys to tell the police that I am not a criminal. Where are you?” Afropanther asked, recounting a negative experience she had with city police.
Holyoke City Councilor Jossie Valentin noted the crowd was smaller than at the vigil three weeks ago to mourn the victims of the Orlando shooting. She called on those in attendance to ask their friends why they did not attend the event Tuesday but came out to honor the Orlando victims.
“Ask why they’re not here tonight … Have the difficult conversations,” Valentin said. “This is not the time to worry about ruining a friendship … We need to work together to get equality across the board.”
Additional speakers included Andrew Grant-Thomas, co-founder of EmbraceRace; Misha Heij, spokeswoman for Standing Up for Racial Justice; Toussaint Losier, an Afro-American studies professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Romina Pacheco, who works at Smith College; and Ousmane Power-Greene, a history professor at Clark University and an education committee member at the David Ruggles Center.
The event was organized Western Massachusetts American Friends Service Committee, the Real Cost of Prisons Project, and Klein, acccording to a statement from Ahrens.