How 3 teenage girls planned, then orchestrated a peaceful protest in Cornelius

Three Cornelius teenagers were angered and outraged by the death of George Floyd while in custody of the Minneapolis police, enough so that they wanted to stage their own protest.

The demonstration organized Wednesday by Hough High School students Kendall Fording, Lily Jones and Ashley Pinkston came off orderly, peacefully and with a clear statement made to the Charlotte suburb of Cornelius — which, according to the 2010 census has a population of about 30,000 and is 86 percent white:

“Black lives matter, obviously,” said Fording, 17. “(Cornelius) is predominately white, but more than anything we wanted to show that we need to speak up when we see injustice. It’s a call for action. It’s a good start.”

The protest began at 4 p.m. in front of the Cornelius Police Department.

“I ask you to gather, converse, and protest,” Jones said to the crowd.

The protesters marched through downtown Cornelius on the sidewalks of Catawba Avenue, eventually returning to the police department. By that time, the street in front of the building had been cordoned off and the protest continued until 7 p.m. with more speeches.

Fording said she would have been surprised if 30 people showed up. The crowd, which eventually grew to more than 300, was diverse, although mostly young and white.

There were plenty of signs, many challenging whites that it is no longer OK to ignore racism: “White silence is pro-racism,” one read. “White silence = white violence,” read another.

The demonstration was almost incident-free, marred only by a white man who approached the podium to challenge what a speaker said. He was shouted down and escorted away.

Pinkston later wrote on Instagram: “We brought the community together. I met a community that I didn’t even know existed today. United we stand, divided we fall.”

What happened in Cornelius was an example of how a racially and politically charged situation can be handled with respect and decency. And it took the efforts of the three Hough High students to pull it off, along with the help of the town’s police department.

“We basically wanted to do something for this community,” Fording said. “We used Instagram so people could hear about it.”

The Cornelius police got wind that the girls were planning the protest, and reached out to help them organize it. The students (Fording and Jones are white, Pinkston is biracial) worked primarily with detective Gina Patterson.

“When we talked to them about it, they had a plan,” Patterson said. “They weren’t wishy-washy about it. They had their ducks in a row and planned it out. It was impressive. I don’t know what I was doing when I was 17, but it wasn’t planning a protest.”

Nick Wrinn, a white man from Mooresville, came to the protest with his wife and daughter Charlotte, a toddler who carried a sign reading “My black friends’ lives matter.”

“I’m trying to learn more about what’s going on and support my friends,” Wrinn said. “It’s peaceful and they’re trying to give everybody a better grasp of what’s going on. It’s an inclusive environment with a little bit of everybody out here.”

Latosha Walker, an African-American mom whose sons attend Hough and play football for the Huskies, was also in the crowd.

“This is a great step for the local area,” Walker said. “We don’t have many numbers (of black residents) in this area, but racism does exist. We can feel more comfort in knowing that we have allies in the community, that we are supported and there are people that don’t look like us who think our lives matter.

“We have to take a stand and at this point we’re desperate for a change. We need to know that others are on board with that.”

Fording ended the three-hour long rally, again challenging the white protesters in attendance.

“Listen to their pain,” she said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 10:24 PM.