Just 6 days after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer – Derek Chauvin, and in an effort to raise awareness and amplify the voices of the black and brown members of the West Orange community, a group of young leaders including Anya Dillard, Truman Segal, Joe Nalieth, Jordan Scott-Young pulled together to help organize a Black Lives Matter protest. What was meant to be an opportunity for the students and families of West Orange to voice their disappointment with the law enforcement system of America turned into one of the largest protests to ever take place in the West Orange history (garnering an audience of over 3,000 people on the steps of townhall). During the protest, so many young black leaders took to the podium and delivered impactful speeches including Marley Dias, Khalil Louigene, Gustav Hall, Marc Younker, and Anya Dillard herself – whose speech made headlines and received over 26,000 views on social media.

 

The rally created such a huge ripple that it caught the attention of West Orange's Mayor Robert Parisi, and even NBA All-star and West Orange native Kyrie Irving. The protest also caught the attention of Elle, Glamour, and Seventeen Magazines who ended up publishing articles about the affair and its organizers. Because of the rally's massive impact on the community, the group responsibe for organizing it later founded The West Orange Youth Caucus. Read more about this iconic event in Seventeen Magazine.