Mom and daughter duo launch a Seaside chapter of Black Lives Matter, call for policing reform.

Miriam Smith has made it her mission to help speak for the people who don’t have big voices. Hers is loud and bold.

It wasn’t always that way: As a black woman with a learning disability, she says school was largely wasted on her. She says she had to take one math class seven times to pass. “If you’re black, it’s not what you make of yourself,” Smith says. “It’s if you get through by chance.”

She got through thanks to a combination of chance, prayer and hard work, she adds, but she wants to boost the odds for younger generations. Part of that is hosting a book club at her home for learning-challenged students, encouraging them to read in a patient, understanding environment.

And part of it is joining a growing national movement. With her 21-year-old daughter, Gertrude Smith, and the Monterey Peace and Justice Center in Seaside, Smith launched the first local Black Lives Matter campaign Aug. 29.

They’re also spearheading #PauseTheCalls, a plea to residents to think twice before calling the police to scenes they might be able to de-escalate themselves.

The Smiths have a list of what they say are police abuses, including one in which they say officers drew a gun on a black teen without cause. “These kids are scared,” Miriam says.

SSPD Deputy Chief Louis Lumpkin says he’s disappointed by #PausetheCalls, especially as officers are working hard on communicating with the public. “I always err on the side of calling police,” he says. “People can get hurt. You can just never predict how somebody’s going to react in a conflict.”