text: Play Facebook 
   
   Twitter 
   
   Embed Wife of Keith Scott Had Filed for a Protective Order, Documents Show 1:48 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
   
   The 9-year-old Charlotte girl whose tearful testimony on racism and policing Monday captured attention around the world said her decision to address City Council was a last-minute one. 
   
   "I was a little nervous, so I decided to just go up there and tell them how I feel," Zianna Oliphant, told NBC News Tuesday. 
   
   "I was just feeling like what the police are doing to us, just because of our skin, is not right,” the fourth-grader said. 
   
   Zianna and her brother, Marquis, both spoke at a City Council meeting in which members of the city’s black community called for changes after police fatally shot an African-American man, Keith Lamont Scott, last week. 
   
   Related: Bomb Scare Shuts Down Charlotte Police Headquarters 
   
   Play Facebook 
   
   Twitter 
   
   Embed Zianna Oliphant Explains Tearful Plea to Charlotte Leaders 1:01 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
   
   Police say Scott was armed. The shooting death and questions over the use of deadly police force against people of color sparked protests that roiled the city. 
   
   "We are black people and we shouldn't have to feel like this. We shouldn't have to protest because y'all are treating us wrong," the girl said Monday. “We do this because we need to and have rights.” 
   
   Tuesday, Zianna said she watched coverage of the police shooting and the protests on the news with her mother, Precious Oliphant 
   
   "I was kind of emotional, because, like, the things that I said is like powerful to me. So that’s why I started crying," Zianna said. 
   
   Related: Why Charlotte Police Chief Was "Least Likely' to Go Into Force 
   
   Play Facebook 
   
   Twitter 
   
   Embed Tearful Girl to Charlotte Council: 'We Shouldn't Have to Feel Like This' 0:39 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
   
   Zianna’s mother said she was proud of her daughter. 
   
   "I was also emotional — because I shouldn’t have to enlighten my kids on discrimination and racism," Precious Oliphant said. She brought the children to the meeting, but it had not been planned for them to speak, she said. 
   
   She noted that Zianna and her brother are actually involved in a police youth league and the children are frequently around officers who do great things for them. 
   
   "They are being a valuable aspect in their lives and being role models, they are teaching them responsibility, dedication and commitment," Oliphant said. 
   
   Zianna Oliphant is consoled after addressing the Charlotte City Council during time for public comments, mainly concerning last week's Scott shooting, at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center on Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. David T. Foster III / The Charlotte Observer via AP 
   
   But she said that growing up in Charlotte, she has been pulled over for what she suspects were trivial issues, like the way she wore her hair or was otherwise perceived — and she worries that her children will be discriminated against as well. 
   
   Related: Charlotte Police Release Video From Keith Scott Shooting 
   
   Some at the council meeting called on Charlotte Police Chief Kerry Putney and the city’s mayor to resign over their handling of Scott’s death. 
   
   "It’s not hate. We don’t hate the police," Oliphant said. “We hate how we are treated by the police, how we are targeted by the police.” 
   
   Zianna said she wants to grow up to be a doctor, because she likes helping people. In the meantime, she doesn’t appear afraid to speak her mind. 
   
   "Kids, they’re, like, shy. But I’m not shy to tell them how I feel about it," she said. ||||| Photo: Courtesy of YouTube/Sapphire 
   
   “I come here today to talk about how I feel,” began Zianna Oliphant at a Charlotte citizens’ forum on Monday. The young girl was one of many who attended the gathering hosted by Charlotte’s City Council. In the week since the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man who was shot by police in Charlotte, the city has been embroiled in protests. Newly released video appears to support claims that Scott was not behaving in a threatening manner in the moments leading up to his death. 
   
   Through tears, Oliphant continued her speech saying: “We are black people and we shouldn’t have to feel like this.” Adding: “It’s a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed and we can’t even see them anymore. It’s a shame that we have to go to their graveyard and bury them. We have tears and we shouldn’t have tears. We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side.” 
   
   As her time on the podium drew to a close, the room erupted in applause and some chanted: “No justice, no peace.”
target: – The shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott last week hit hard in Charlotte, NC. But someone who's feeling particular distress over it is young Zianna Oliphant, who spoke at a Charlotte City Council meeting Monday evening, addressing a hushed room with tears streaming down her cheeks as she spoke of the black experience and police brutality, New York reports. "I come here today to talk about how I feel," Zianna started off. "I feel like … we are treated differently than other people. … We are black people and we shouldn't have to feel like this." What especially drew the crowd's attention, in addition to Zianna's words and how emotional she was: the fact that she's a 9-year-old fourth-grader who spontaneously took the podium, per NBC News. "I decided to just go up there and tell them how I feel," she says. "I've been born and raised in Charlotte and I never felt this way till now," she said, breaking down. "And I can't stand how we're treated. … It's a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed and we can't even see them anymore. … We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side." Her mom, Precious Oliphant, tells NBC both Zianna and her brother, who also spoke at the meeting, are involved in a police youth league with cops who serve as "role models," showing them the ropes of "responsibility, dedication, and commitment." But Oliphant adds she's been pulled over by police for what she thinks were trivial things, and she doesn't want her kids to have that same experience, or to face danger. As for Zianna, she's not afraid to forge her own path for the future. "I'm not shy to tell them how I feel about it," she says.