An Eastern Michigan University social work major recently found herself on stage in Ferguson, Missouri. She ended up speaking to 3,000 people at an interfaith convention.
Adrienne Ayers is a senior from Detroit, where she is also a community activist. She says she went to Ferguson recently to find out what was going on, and to offer her support.
Ayers and two companions walked into the convention, and were shocked to find a panel of celebrities and activists simply re-hashing what had happened.
She thought they should be talking about solutions, and taking action, and said as much.
The crowd urged Ayers and her friends up on stage, where they shared a national spotlight with people like activist, philosopher and academic Dr. Cornell West.
"People are tired," Ayers says. "People are literally taking that city back in their hands. And they're showing it. They don't want to hear a freaking thing else that the people on that stage were really saying."
Ayers says the discussion wasn't effective, and wasn't solving the issue.
"To be able to get that moment on stage, in front of the national news, it was surreal."
Ayers says what happened in Ferguson isn't just a Ferguson issue. She says she saw real democracy in Ferguson, and wants to take what she learned and put it to work in Detroit.