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Hundreds marched in Sayreville on June 6, 2020 for a Black Lives Matter rally. Bridgewater Courier News

SAYREVILLE- More than 300 people made their way to the borough municipal building Saturday afternoon for a Black Lives Matter rally organized by three Sayreville War Memorial High School graduates.

The former students, who are all people of color, said they organized the event to raise awareness about the struggles of African Americans in Sayreville, New Jersey and America as a whole.

"This is important in this town specifically because we feel that growing up in this town, being black students and being black residents, we had to remain silent for things that mattered to us," said Kiera Brown, 20, an organizer of the event. "We can't express how we feel or anything like that because it's a predominantly white town. We feel that we don't have a voice in this town."

Erene Olson, left, Jasmine Ali, Aaliyah Wideman and Kiera Brown, who organized the Sayreville Black Lives Matter rally.(Photo: Nick Muscavage/MyCentralJersey)

Brown, along with co-organizers Aaliyah Wideman, 20,and Erene Olson, 20, said the goal of Saturday's rally was to convey how African Americans feel in Sayreville and to pay homage to those who died because of police brutality.

Aaliyah said Black History Month at Sayreville War Memorial High School was brushed off. She said the black history curriculum basicallyboiled down to only watching the film "My Friend Martin".

"If we can talk in school about American history, then we can talk in school about black history, as well," she said.

Brown said teaching black history is especially important to African Americans in predominantly white towns "because it motivates us, it drives us, and lets us know we can be something in life."

The event drew people of all ages, ethnicityand background, including clergymen, first responders, families with small children andlocal and state elected officials.

A voter registration booth was situated next a table with information on black history education andbracelets that said, Black Lives Matter.

A Sayreville police officer, Lt. James Novak, picked up a bracelet and put it around his wrist.

Hundreds came out to the Sayreville Black Lives Matter rally on June 6, 2020.(Photo: Nick Muscavage/MyCentralJersey)

Novak, who the organizers said played a role in planning the event, said that the message of today is change.

I vow to you, every day, that I will be the example for everyone who wears what I wear, he said.

Before the hundreds marched peacefully down MacAuthur Avenue, Main Street and Dolan Street, several speakers spoke to the crowd.

Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick commended the three women for organizing the event and said that the troves of people came together on Saturday because we cannot unsee the images of George Floyd.

Today we stand together because we cannot unhear his voice: I cant breathe, she said. I am here with you because I cannot, and we cannot, stand idly by. We must intervene, we must interfere.

Kilpatrick said Sayreville is committed to treating everyone equally, to empowering the most marginalized, to listening to the most vulnerable.

It is time to stand up to systemic racism, she said.

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Newly appointed Councilman Vincent Conti also spoke at the rally and said, as public safety liaison, he listen to the communitys needs, concerns and ideas for change.

I want to help, he said.

He said that the death of George Floyd was a disgusting, unconscionable act.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said that the death of Floyd broke the sacred trust of the nation.

He also said that the officers who killed Floyd are not representative of every police officer.

When an officer does what we saw in Minnesota, it offends all of the officers who we entrust with these great duties and great challenges, he said. It makes their job so much harder.

An activist with a sign at the Sayreville Black Lives Matter rally on June 6, 2020.(Photo: Nick Muscavage/MyCentralJersey)

He also said we cannot forget those who died at the hands of the police so that we can strive for a better tomorrow.

The Rev. Joseph Oniyama, of Calvary Baptist Church in East Orange, said that the promises of politicians listening is a good step forward, but directly asked the elected officials, What are you going to do now to make sure that we will never forget?

Im not asking for the mayor to step down and have a person of color replace her, he said. What Im asking you to do is look at your structure, see how many people of color are in positions in politics to make sure that when you write your laws that impact all of us we have a seat the table.

An activist with a sign at the Sayreville Black Lives Matter rally on June 6, 2020.(Photo: Nick Muscavage/MyCentralJersey)

He said that the words never forget after Floyds death are not etched in stone but etched into our hearts because they have left an indelible mark on the consciousness of this nation.

Jasmine Ali, another former student of Sayreville War Memorial High School, said she had to teach herself about racial inequality because the lessons at her school were inadequate and unacceptable.

It has become known to me that a lot of people in Sayreville went on to not choose to educate themselves on these issues, she said. They chose the more comfortable route on themselves: to pretend that it isnt happening.

READ: Sayreville taps replacement for former council member

Ali, who is pursuing a career in education, vowed that she will someday do better for her students.

"I've seen too many of my fellow Americans acting like what is going on today is completely new," she said, "when in fact it is something that has been happening and is the same thing Martin Luther King pushed for in his day."

Brown, one of the organizers, said that in a town like Sayreville, the reception of a message like Black Lives Matter may be mixed. Some will agree,and others may ignore it.

"But we're going to be heard either way," she said.

Email: ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com

Nick Muscavage is a watchdog reporter for the Courier News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to his investigative work that has exposed wrongdoing and changed state law, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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'We're going to be heard either way': Sayreville Black Lives Matter march draws hundreds - My Central Jersey