Here & Now

Youth Demonstrate for Racial Equality

Frederica Freyberg:

Among the protesters this week the voice of a teenager is being heard. Noah Anderson is a recent Madison West High School graduate. He became active in issues of race and equality after his father made national headlines. Marlon Anderson is the West High School security guard, who under a “no tolerance policy” was fired for using the n-word. Marlon Anderson was telling a disruptive student to stop using the word and repeated it as he did so. He eventually got his job back but the incident prompted his son Noah into action, including staging a student walkout. Noah Anderson joins us this week from Madison where we talked with him earlier. Noah, thanks very much for being here.

Noah Anderson:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So, as a member of the Black Student Union you helped organize a school walkout in support of your father and against a policy that did not allow for the nuance of the circumstance. That walkout protest drew some 1500 participants. How did that experience help shape who you are today?

Noah Anderson:

Yeah, no, yeah, you were about 1500 people had walked out. My experience in the school was pretty iffy. That really showed me that, you know, I had people that stand in my line, standing with me with unity and solidarity. But it was about, I believe, 80%, 85% of the school that had walked out that day. Really what that day and what that experience taught me was this is my calling in life, you know, this is what God set me on the earth for because of how everything played out. No way in the world would that have– that case get the amount of attention that it did. You know, Cher had reacted to it. I heard the queen of England reacted to it. The whole world reacted to it and you see what’s going on right now with black lives matter, it’s like, it’s like I had a dream. Like, you know, I’m not Martin Luther King but I had a dream. I’m a religious person and God showed me that this is the final walk to the Promised Land for my people. So that experience really shaped me and God was just showing me through that little experience that this is, this is the beginning of, you know, what’s soon to come. My dad lost his job and that is sad but without him losing his job, it would not have brought light to the MMSD’s problem in the school. So, him losing his job, he got his job back with extra benefits. So you know, he was taken away for a little bit but then it was given back to him. Pretty much a lot like the story of Job, if you know anything about that. But really, in that experience, God showed me this is my calling and it’s what he put me on this earth to do. So — yeah, I mean, I’m really excited for what’s coming up next.

Frederica Freyberg:

So all of that said, what was it like for you to see the death of George Floyd and now to see the global protests over his killing?

Noah Anderson:

So I actually, I chose not to watch that video. I know about it, I know about everything. I couldn’t see a man lose his life through a ten-minute video. Really like my mind, you know, the liberation of my people, that’s been set in my heart for, since I say sophomore year. I was not always, you know, conscious in my black history and conscious of who I was, but actually Ahmaud Arbery is what really struck me because the difference between George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, Ahmaud Arbery was killed by civilians and George Floyd was killed by a cop. And we know police brutality been going on far before I was born, far before any of us was born that’s living today, but Ahmaud Arbery was killed by a civilian, later found out was an active member of the KKK. That’s what really scared me. Because you know, for them to get away with that for three months until a video had came out, that scared me and made me think how many people that look like me are dying and I can’t see it. You know, we can’t see just because there’s no media attention.

Frederica Freyberg:

What was that moment that you realized that you could make change through activism?

Noah Anderson:

The moment I realized I could make change through activism was definitely what happened with my dad. And not to be mistaken, that was not just me, that was everybody, you know. My entire BSU in the school could not have been done without everybody because change comes with numbers. But that was a time showing me how much change made, how much media attention it got within, legit, a couple of days. That showed me that this could actually, we could actually change, especially that it was a big case, you know, my father losing his job over something like that, you know what I’m saying, but really for it to get that much attention really is what showed me that I could make change, or we can make change through activism.

Frederica Freyberg:

Noah Anderson, we leave it there. We wish you well in your future endeavors. Thanks very much.

Noah Anderson:

Oh, no, thank you so much for having me.