The following article was written by Spring-Summer 2025 Communications Intern Suwaydah Aden

On May 22, 2025, SOAR hosted a memorial for George Floyd. SOAR stands for Student Organized Anti Racism, which is a club at St. Louis Park High School. George Floyd was a father, a black man, who was murdered by the Minneapolis Police Department. During the memorial, they had students remain in a quiet reflection, a time to reflect on what happened. Students were also given a journal to write new learnings, take notes, and write their thoughts.

Students enjoyed the presentations and had time to reflect with their journals. This provided students with an opportunity to better their learning on the topic and to understand more of the police brutality issue in our country. 

“I think the only way to dismantle police brutality and systemic racism as a whole is to keep pushing it and keep talking about it and not letting it die off,” said Senior Tina Benyam.

S.O.A.R has also taken action on dismantling institutional racism with their very own teach-ins. Teach-ins are when they have students who want to learn more on a topic they aren't familiar with, and go over them in organizations during the school day. Students can also take notes on their understandings and new learnings. This helps to address people on the issue of racism when they spread awareness and allow students here at St. Louis Park to have more of a freedom on what they want to learn about.  

“The reason I joined S.O.A.R is to educate others, and I feel like education is the most powerful weapon,” said Junior Mariya Terfera. “Spreading awareness and educating others and yourself is the most important thing ever, which is why I am here today and in S.O.A.R., to give the knowledge I have to others.”

The group hopes to continue their efforts to fight systemic racism, continuing with events such as the George Floyd Memorial.

“I think the main way to do that is with events like today,” Tina said. “The thing I am most passionate about is just being able to post it and have people come and listen and being able to constantly bring it up over and over again so that it never is forgotten.”

¨This event is important to me because sometimes you forget police brutality still exists, said Junior Khandro Alatsang. “There are victims everyday around the world and we are also affected by police brutality. As a person of color with brothers, this issue affects my family and myself and I think it affects a lot of people.”

Students who attend St Louis Park High School, and those a part of SOAR, took time to reflect on what happened to George Floyd and learn about police brutality. This is an important topic that is crucial for the St. Louis Park community to recognize and support.