If you are anything like the students here at TCNJ, you would agree that the amount of tragedies occurring in the world is atrocious and downright heartbreaking. You would agree that after waking up day after day to another story you want to pretend is just a nightmare, that you cannot stand idly by. That is why TCNJ students planned a peace rally to address the social unrest across the nation, and encourage and challenge others to stand with us as we strive as a community to fight for peace. On Wednesday November 18th, TCNJ came together to #StandUnited as professors, students, and workers all gathered at Quimby’s Prairie to show their individual support for justice across the country and world.
Photo Credit: Yuleisy Ortez
The school’s Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, and President discussed to the crowd the recent racial issues brewing and breaking out among our country, and about the heartbreak that the world is facing. There was a focus on the more recent events such as the tragedies in Syria, France, Beirut, and Jerusalem, and on the protests in Missouri. However, the president of TCNJ, Barbara Gittenstein, also mentioned the deaths that occurred last year in Ferguson and Baltimore, and about the hardships and dangerous work that the NYPD and other police forces must endure on a daily basis. President Gittenstein quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in her opening statement saying: “Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.” She went on to speak about how one must be respectful “to all of mankind, not just your own kind.”
With a poem recited by a diverse group of students and a moment of silence while standing in a ginormous circle around the prairie holding hands – it was absolutely impossible not to feel the power of unity.
“TCNJ requires that there be an atmosphere in which all people feel free to express themselves, to disagree, and to argue passionately, and to challenge the status quo” Dr. Morton Winston said as he addressed the crowd as a faculty representative.
Photo Credit: Yuleisy Ortez
Photo Credit: Caitlyn McNair
We stand, at The College of New Jersey, together collectively to fight injustice. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said. We must not ignore the unfairness of injustice, and it is absolutely beautiful knowing TCNJ is taking action against it.