It all started with a brave boy standing up in front of his community and saying enough is enough.
Gavin Alston, age 10, spoke at a Redmond City Council meeting earlier this month, sharing his experience with racism first-hand.
“A lot of people have been calling me the N-word or a monkey, even black boy,” Gavin said during his testimony. It came a few days after someone left a dead raccoon and a threatening note that mentioned Black city councilor Clifford Evelyn by name.
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On Friday, Gavin led an anti-racism march in Redmond.
“It was just him backing up Cliff and trying to let people know that it is not just happening to Cliff, but other people and little kids at the same time, too,” said Heather Alston, Gavin’s mother.
Gavin had Cliff’s back. On Friday, Evelyn had Gavin’s.
“We thought it was the proper thing to do to make sure that his voice is being heard,” said Evelyn. “So his family put together a march against that type of be-hatred and those types of crimes.”
The crowd rallied against racism.
“I have two black grandsons, and they lived in Bend and they were bullied every day,” said rally participant Sherry Cupp. “It made me tear up, but I’m not surprised. I remember what it was like for my boys. It’s just sad.”
They marched through downtown Redmond.
“As Gavin would say, treat them equally and to not judge them because they are brown or a darker color,” said Heather. “Not to judge them by what they look like and to get to know them before you pass judgment and stereotype somebody.”
Gavin and Councilor Evelyn are standing together against racism and hate crimes in their community.
“We are not going to minimize this,” Evelyn said. “We are going to make sure people understand that we have zero tolerance for that and we are going full strong to find out who did it.”
