Naiara Tamminga is a 13-year-old damn-giver living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A little context for why this conversation is taking place. On May 17, Naiara got up at her local city commission meeting and spoke for 3 minutes. She called out the leaders in front of her and other leaders in her community for their gross inaction regarding the brutal murder of 26-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrick Lyoya, who was fatally shot in the back of the head by Officer Christopher Schurr of the Grand Rapids Police Department during a scuffle back in April. I saw a 30-40 second clip of her speaking, found the full 2 1/2 hour meeting, found her 3-minute speech, and posted it on my social media platforms on May 20. Since then, it has been shared by the likes of Viola Davis, Dan Levy, Leslie Jones, Jesse Williams, DL Hughley and others, and has garnered million views, thousands of shares, and thousands of comments.

Naiara is wise beyond her years and I have no doubt that she will continue to be great and do great things with her life.

NEXT STEPS:

- Follow Naiara on Instagram.

- Listen to the 3-minute speech from May 17 that went viral.

- Listen her recite her recent Dear, You Must Wait and See… poem.

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