Youth Radio of Oakland, California took some fallout from the George Zimmerman not-guilty verdict on Monday night. The Peabody award winning media education group reports that two of the street windows of its downtown Oakland HQ were smashed amid various protest marches. Several other storefronts also sustained some damage.
Apparently some Youth Radio participants tried to reason with the damage doers. “Why? Why did you do this?” Youth Radio member Myles Bess says he protested in this short YouTube video that the group made about the incident.
“I guess I felt a little betrayed a little bit,” explains Sayre Quevedo, “because what we do at Youth Radio is so in line with what people were protesting against and for, which is making young people of color feel that their lives have value.”
None of this seems to have fazed the group. “Youth Radio journalists are continuing to cover the verdict and its repercussions, producing stories for local and national outlets,” a statement concludes. “And our educators are gearing up for our summer classes, which start today.”
Supporters of Youth Radio can help the organization via this contribution page.
