Santa Barbara teens led thousands of protesters in another peaceful march Sunday afternoon, walking from Stearns Wharf to the Santa Barbara Unified School District and then to the city’s Police Department, demanding the dismantling of racism.
“We know that there are things that need to be changed,” said Shakir Ahmad, a sophomore at San Marcos High School and one of the lead organizers of the event, outside the district office. “Therefore, we have a list of demands.”
The large crowd of several thousand demonstrators flooded around the school district building on Santa Barbara Street as Ahmad listed the six demands of the district, which include defunding any contracts between the district and the Sheriff’s Office or Police Department, implementing ethnic studies classes with culturally relevant curriculum, and adopting a resolution declaring racism as a public health emergency.