People ages 1 to 83 picketed downtown Fredonia on Tuesday, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nigel Reynolds, junior musical theater major at the State University of New York at Fredonia, organized the protest because of his background as a person of color, according to him. “I came to the realization that I was doing nothing to help my people of color,” he said. “As a person of color I’m not going to just sit while everyone else is standing. It’s my job to stand, so my kids can walk.”

The participants of the rally ended up dancing, cheering, and waving to people and cars for over four hours at Main and Temple streets. Over the course of the protest, there were about 100 participants who came to support, with hundreds more honking, waving, and cheering in support.

Seth Meyer, another student from the local college, also came to support with a poster. “It’s been happening for so many years. This last case with George Floyd clearly shows abuse of power by the police,” Meyer said. “What we need is accountability.”