Black protester on the racial complexities behind the city’s 100 days of protest

You cannot expect black people to be constantly present, Andrew Buncombe hears, in a city that is largely white

Faith Lightsy feels she has been an activist all her life (Andrew Buncombe )

Faith Lightsy says her first instance of activism was to challenging a teacher in fifth grade.

Aged 10 or 11, she confronted the teacher who awarded a higher grade to a white girl who had got the same marks. So she organised a petition and collected 60 signatures. The other girl was moved to a different class.

Was it racism? Perhaps. What it certainly represented was an early consideration about the discrimination faced by millions of people for colour in the United States. Sometimes by their own families.