I’ziae Frazier spent the hours before her American high school graduation Saturday with friends and 100 strangers in an Italian plaza protesting racism and police brutality in her home country. “Honestly, I feel the pain of all of my ancestors, all of them,” said Frazier, who’ll be attending Howard University in the fall.

She said it was devastating how anti-black racism and extrajudicial killings by police could still be so prevalent more than a half century after the civil rights movement. “I want to do my part whether through protesting or educating people so we can move on to a better world for the next generation,” she said.