SCRANTON, Pa. — Nadiyah Rivera wanted to show her support for the family of Daunte Wright, who was shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer on Sunday.
There were plenty of protests going on in other big cities, but Rivera decided to start her own here at home in Scranton.
"The closest place to me that would be active was Philadelphia, so I was like, 'Why would I have to travel two hours away from my hometown to bring awareness to the city I want to bring awareness to?'"
Rivera was joined by Savannah Drummond, who helped organize several racial justice demonstrations this past summer.
"Even our own police here have made efforts to change their training to make it safer for black people here. But overall, this is still a problem, and I think it's going to take, sadly, I think it's going to take a lot longer than a year and a few protests for this to really have a huge impact," said Drummond.
The protest began less than an hour after news broke that the officer involved in Daunte Wright's death would be charged with second-degree manslaughter.
"It's great to see that she is getting charged with something because she should be. Whether it was an accident or whether it wasn't, to be on a force for 26 years and accidentally mistake your gun for a Taser, that just doesn't make any sense," Drummond said.
Under Minnesota state law, second-degree manslaughter is defined as death resulting from "culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another."
"It's just a shame that we have people in positions that can just end your life because they made a mistake," said Scranton resident Heather Rhodes.