Gavin Alston, a fourth-grader from Redmond, Oregon, tells Inside Edition Digital, "I know how it is to get treated differently because of your skin color."
A 10-year-old Oregon boy who stunned members of an Oregon city council when he gave a passionate speech about the racism he has endured tells Inside Edition Digital he hopes his words resonate with those who perpetuate such intolerance.
Gavin Alston, a fourth-grader from Redmond, read a prepared speech at last week's city council meeting about how he’s been called the “N-word” and “monkey” by his classmates.
“One girl said to me, ‘I would hit you, but that’s called animal abuse,’” Gavin said during his speech.
“We should not get treated like this,” he added. “We should get treated equally. This is not fair to us Black people.”
With his mother Heather by his side, Gavin tells Inside Edition Digital he gave the speech because, "I know how it is to get treated differently because of your skin color."
Despite his poise in front of a room full of predominantly white adults, Gavin says he was "really nervous, because I thought I was going to be the only kid there, which I was, but it was really scary for me."
The boy’s speech came after Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch found a dead raccoon and a sign containing what he described as “intimidating language” outside his private law office, the Redmond Police Department said in a news release. The sign mentioned him and City Councilor Clifford Evelyn by name, officials said. Evelyn is the only Black person on the city council.
"The Redmond Police Department has no tolerance for hate speech of any kind, against any person or group," Police Chief Devin Lewis said in the release. "We will work swiftly to resolve this case and seek to hold those who did this to our community responsible. Police are still investigating the incident.
Evelyn addressed the incident at the city council meeting ahead of Gavin's speech.
“For those who do not support teaching accurate—and sometimes uncomfortable—American history in our schools, this is why it’s important to do so. Apparently, history repeats itself,” he said. “Dog whistles and gestures will not deter me from my duties as city council.”
Evelyn also thanked the people of the community for their support.
Gavin felt it important to speak in support of Evelyn.
“Why should us Black people suffer from racism, when there are other races doing murders?” Gavin said during his speech. “When us Black people are showing respect, but we still get treated like crap?”
"I wanted to tell people that we should not get treated like this because it is not fair," he tells Inside Edition Digital.
In an email to Inside Edition Digital, Fitch said that he and the community were impressed by the young boy.
"We were all impressed by his statement and the fact he had the courage to make his comments to the Council and a large audience," he wrote.
Gavin's parents are "very proud" of their son, noting that no one helped him with his speech. "We wouldn't have let him put crap in the writing because I don't think it's appropriate for a 10-year-old," his mother Heather tells Inside Edition Digital. "But that was something that he wanted to write out and he wrote on his own, so we let him just do what he needed to do."
Calling Fitch's praise of her son "something huge," Heather says "having the mayor talking about one of my kids is amazing."
Though Gavin included examples of what he has experienced, his speech was not meant to call out his city or school specifically, his mother says. "He went up there to support Cliff and to let people know that the racism thing is a real thing here and that it's more than what people think," she says.
"(My) kids love Redmond. They love the school district, but there is things that the school district can do to make it better for kids that do deal with racism instead of just saying, 'Oh, we're sorry,' this and this. There should be more," she continues.
At the end of the month, the Alstons are organizing a march against racism in their town. And Gavin has no plans of slowing down where activism and advocating for diversified education is concerned.
"I feel like we should learn more about Black History Month and Martin Luther King, because we didn't ever really learn about him," he says. "I feel like some people that are racist should stop because of my speech, are like, 'Dang, this kid's really good. I feel like I shouldn't be racist like this.'"
In December, Alston’s parents notified school officials he was being bullied verbally and racially, KTVZ reported.
In a statement to Inside Edition Digital, the Redmond School District says, "Thankfully, Gavin and his family communicated with his school about the harmful language that he described in his testimony, when it occurred. Gavin’s parents contacted the school to let them know that inappropriate name calling was happening on and around school grounds, during recesses and while walking to and from school."
The Redmond School District says that after the incident was reported, the students involved received counseling.
“It is the right of every student to feel safe and welcome in our schools,” Redmond School District Superintendent Dr. Charan Cline said in a press release obtained by Inside Edition Digital in response to hearing Gavin’s story.
