This precious nine year old, Zianna Oliphant, has just delivered one of THE most powerfully touching and heartbreaking messages to the mayor and the council members of Charlotte, N.C.. Zianna reminds us of a modern day Ruby Bridges all over again- a very sad, yet surreal and thought-provoking reality.

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Zianna spoke a desperate plea to all of them at a city hall meeting asking them to do something to stop the injustices ‘our mommies and daddies’ are experiencing at the hands of police officers. The meeting was to call for mayor, Jennifer Roberts to resign and for Officer Kerry Putney to be legally held accountable for unjustly murdering N.C. resident and father of seven, Keith Lamont Scott, recently.

Zianna broke down in tears as she spoke but after the encouragement of the crowd, she pushed through her sadness and was able to continue. She also admitted that she’d never felt fearful for the lives of Black people in all of her nine years, until now. The audience was tearful and gave her a standing ovation when she was done.

“It’s a shame that our fathers and brothers are killed and we can’t see them anymore,’ Zianna said through tears. ‘It’s a shame that we have to go through that graveyard and bury him. We need our fathers and brothers to be by our side. We are Black people and we shouldn’t have to feel like this. We shouldn’t have to protest because y’all are treating us wrong. We do this because we need to and have rights,” stated Zianna during the city council meeting.

We think this child’s message is something that EVERYONE reading this article should watch because it’s incredible how children can oftentimes see the logic that we adults sometimes miss.

WATCH ZIANNA GIVE HER POWERFULLY EMOTIONAL MESSAGE TO THE CITY COUNCIL:

Like we said, Zianna is like a modern day Ruby Bridges, the then 6 year old African American child who bravely walked through relentless racist slurs and hateful threats against her and her family’s lives that were spewed upon her daily by some of the Caucasian adult parents in New Orleans, La., all because she was the first Black child to desegregate an all-white school in the South in 1960.

Sure the topics are different- Zianna’s is anti-police brutality; Ruby’s was school integration- but clearly the underlying root of the problems are the same- racism in America.

The bravery Ruby Bridges, displayed in such a grown up, hateful situation is the same type of bravery we’ve just witnessed Zianna Oliphant display when she stood at that podium and spoke from her heart during her tearful plea to put an end to African Americans “being treated differently just because the color of our skin,” as she stated. So for any American who still questions why Black Lives Matter, Zianna Oliphant- just like Ruby Bridges some 56 years ago- are your answers to that question.

ZIANNA EXPLAINS WHY SHE SPOKE AT THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING