News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Monterey resident Daniella D’Agostino asked the Cookeville City Council Thursday night to remove confederate monuments in the city-owned cemeteries and eliminate choke holds in its police department.
D’Agostino and about 50 supporters of the Youth For Inclusion Initiative marched from the Tennessee Tech campus Thursday to Cookeville City Hall. While thanking the Council for its recent proclamation supporting Black Lives Matters, D’Agostino said the city must do more.
“Your words will mean nothing if they are not followed by action,” D’Agostino said. “We would like to know what concrete steps the city council is planning on taking to dismantle systematic racism in Cookeville.”
D’Agostino was the only person who requested to speak to the council Thursday night. Most Initiative members waited outside while the council conducted its 30-minute meeting. As council members and citizens left the meeting, the group chanted, showed signs and banners, and asked for justice.
“Though there’s a lot of action we want to see happen, we understand more homework and organization needs to happen before we can do them,” D’Agostino said. “And we are not giving up those actions, just refining them.”
YII organized the June 6 protest downtown.
