'Any voice is a good voice': Provo youth lend voices to national movement for change

PROVO — It wasn’t the mothers or grandmothers or older generation that caught driver’s eyes as they viewed the crowd of around 75 people gathered around the Provo City police station holding signs and chanting, “Black Lives Matter” in the small college town Wednesday evening.

It was the youth — and the children.

The crowd, composed mainly of kids and families at one point, chanted "love and peace" and "black lives matter" as they were greeted by solidarity honks from passing cars.

Ty Davis and his friends weren’t originally part of that group. Around 5 p.m., Davis and two of his friends arrived at the police station, knowing that protesters had been gathering there all week to show support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

No one was there, but they stood, and chanted, and held up signs in memory of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who was killed by a former police officer that has sparked protests around the nation against police brutality.

When more voices began to arrive, the groups eventually coalesced. They weren’t together, but their voices were one.

“Any voice is a good voice,” said Davis, 27. “I think it’s going to take the entire community to make a change. This protest is just as much for change in myself, as a white man, as well as for my community, which is predominantly white. It’s important that we come together as a whole, or nothing is going to get fixed.”

While nearly a thousand marched from Washington Square to the University of Utah and back 40 miles to the north, drivers honked and cheered at the protesters as they caromed through Center Street, one of the narrowest streets in downtown Provo, with a grass median separating each direction of traffic. That’s where Davis and his friends, who eventually numbered a dozen, waved signs and chanted in support of Black Lives Matter.

“We’ve had a lot of positive responses, which is really cool to see and inspiring to note,” said Davis, a Provo resident who works at nearby Brigham Young University. “I think it’s good to see a lot of people who want to support and who want to cheer this on, to be a part of this. It’s really exciting.”

Marian Brunner, an African-American grandmother, invited her family to the protest in order to support her neighbors, the Brown family, and their children, who set up the event. In Provo, residents don’t need to file for a protest, so long as they remain in public spaces and don’t block access roads, sidewalks or entryways, said one nearby Provo police officer.

He wasn’t there as a protester, but still wanted to support a friend in the group, who requested some form of police presence in case the moment turned dangerous. There was no curfew like previous days in Salt Lake, and no reason for a police presence. But “Officer Taylor” showed up to ensure this group’s right to free speech.

Others arrived to support a family member, a friend, or a moment — to unify for change in a system.

“I was invited here by my mom to come and support the children, our neighbors and their kids,” Ashley Lehmann said.

“I think it’s great to see how people in the community, especially the children, want to show support for what’s going on in the country right now, the loss of life that everybody’s protesting,” she continued.

Marian Brunner commended her neighbors’ efforts, “I was just so impressed that their mom was teaching them this social awareness. I watched her encouraging them to make their own signs, and she didn’t tell them what to do or what to say.”

Marian then recounted how watching each of the children create signs, one of them reading “LOVE” in large letters, moved her.

“If children get it, why don’t we?” she asked. “That’s where it all starts, we just have to have love for everyone.”

“I can’t believe, because I was raised during the Martin Luther King era and then we are back to this, basically, you know, fighting systemic racism,” Marian said. “I lived in Europe for many, many years, so when I came back … this is what I left in the ‘60s, you know, but we’re still talking about it as though it has never come up before.

“We have to get out and do something and we have to educate our children to love one another regardless of ethnicity and race.”

The rising generation was on display in Provo, from Gen Z college students to small children barely old enough to enter elementary school.

That, perhaps, is where the greatest change will happen, one protester said.

“It’s crazy with social media; movements like this are going to explode,” Davis said. “Everything is moving so fast for humanity. I feel like social media is blowing up, people are getting out, and people feel like they can be so informed.

“Here’s a college town, with a lot of youth, even when it’s not in session. And the youth today — we want change. That’s the most important thing.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Marian's last name was Lehmann. The article has been updated to show that her last name is Brunner.

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