When this nine-year-old made a tearful plea to end police violence, the whole world listened.

It’s been a week since Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead by a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Scott’s death was the catalyst for protests and outrage across the region, adding greater weight to an already heaving debate about police brutality in the US.

And now, it seems the movement has both a new face and new spokesperson.

Nine-year-old Zianna Oliphant has captured the world’s attention with a tearful and impassioned plea for the end of police brutality in both her region and her country.

Speaking at a city council meeting on Monday about growing up black in Charlotte, Zianna pled with those around her for equality and an end to violence.

“I feel like that we are treated differently than other people. I don’t like how we’re treated. Just because of our color doesn’t mean anything to me,” she said, as she broke down in tears.

“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. We do this because we need to and have rights.”

As she struggled to talk through her tears, Zianna was spurred on by members of the crowd, who told her she was doing “a great job” and “don’t stop.”

“I’ve never felt this way until now.”

“I can’t stand how we’re treated,” she continued. “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.”

According to the BBC, Zianna’s mother Precious Oliphant later said the speech was unplanned.

However, as she sat through the meeting, the nine-year-old felt she needed to articulate how she felt.

“I was a little nervous, so I decided to just go up there and tell them how I feel,” she told NBC News.

“I was kind of emotional, because, like, the things that I said is like powerful to me. So that’s why I started crying.”