I’m walking down the stairs of the library when I come across a group of people chanting and it takes me a second to realize that I’m actually witnessing just one of the demonstrations that have been sweeping the nation, “Black Lives Matter!”
Various forms of protests have been taking place after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson; a police officer that shot and killed unarmed black teen, Michael Brown. And the protests have continued to surge over a week later after another police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, went unpunished after killing a black male, Eric Garner, by putting him in a chokehold.
These murders have prompted many discussions and initiatives for change with millennials are taking matters into their own hands. A number of protests have taken place on the campuses of universities and high schools.
“We are living in a ‘post-racial’ society that runs on systemic racism,” said Carnegie Mellon student, Anire Bowman. “Where minorities have harder times being successful due to preconceived notions. It is time, in 2014, to bring these issues to light.”
According to Huffington Post, schools such as Pennsylvania State University, Harvard University and Boston University have all staged die-ins; a form of protest where people act as if they are dead. Most recently, high schools have been getting involved as well; Masterman High School held their own protest in their very own hallways.
“It’s amazing to see that the generation with so many negative stigmas can overcome them by working together,” Temple University sophomore, Jada Dale said. “We’re stronger than we may seem.”
During a chilly afternoon on December 4th, over 100 Temple students made their way through campus shouting for change and held three die-ins on Main Campus. The first one took place at Liacouras Walk, the second at Samuel Paley Library and the third in front of the Howard Gittis Student Center.
For four and a half minutes, the students simulated being dead to pay respect to the four and a half hours that Michael Brown’s dead body laid on the ground after he was shot on August 9, 2014.
“These issues aren’t going to be solved overnight,” said Bowman. “The more people bring awareness to these issues, the more chance we have with creating change.”
With tensions running high, the nation is facing an issue that has been a hush-hush topic for a while: racism. “This is something that is deeply rooted in our society. It’s deeply rooted in our history,” said President Barack Obama in a BET interview that will air on December 15th. “This is not a black problem, it’s an American problem.”
Though some protests have been violent, Temple students are showing that a peaceful form of protest is possible.
“Overall, I think the main message is that equality is one thing, but justice is another. We are told that we are equal, yet when something horrible happens to our community we rarely ever see justice served,” said Dale. “There is no equality if there is no justice.”