As students across the country participate in a second wave of school walkouts on Friday morning to take action against gun violence, black and brown children are demanding that racial justice be a part of the conversation.

Students of color have united to issue an open letter to demand that school safety concerns don't continue to criminalize black and brown youth.

"We are young people from all across the country, standing in solidarity with the youth in Parkland and the millions of other young people calling for change," the letter read in part. "While people take up the debate around school safety and gun control with new energy, the debate itself is nothing new. We know this because we are the [black] and [brown] young people who have been at the forefront of these debates."

According to a press release, the letter was issued in connection to the anniversaries of both the Columbine massacre and the 2015 death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died in police custody.

We have come up in the age of the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and many other youth of color. Calls for an end to gun violence… must include a demand for an end to police violence. https://t.co/ScnKPKMPw3

— LIT MKE (@LitMke) April 20, 2018

Signers of the letter include youth organizations and national youth alliances from across the country including Urban Youth Collaborative, Florida Student Power and West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families. Young people leading these campaigns plan to use these demands to pressure elected officials and school districts to stop over-policing schools and end the school-to-prison pipeline affecting black and brown children.

As highlighted in the letter, the students list the following demands: divestment from school policing, comprehensive mental and emotional health services, more guidance counselors and social workers, expansion of restorative justice practices, culturally responsive education and investment in schools and teachers. The collective has also created a petition in support of their mission.

"We see guns, and as [black] and [brown] children we know they are more likely to be used against us than to protect us," the letter continued. "We are dehumanized by dogs sniffing our backpacks, harassed by police through invasive body searches and metal detectors, stripped of our privacy as officials rifle through our lockers, and surveilled by cameras as they capture our every move. This is our current reality – a school environment that treats us as suspects, as criminals.”

School walkouts

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