Students gathered in the main lobby of the Lory Student Center Thursday in silent protest against the verdicts of the Eric Garner case Wednesday and the Michael Brown shooting from Aug. 9.
A group of approximately 30 students laid on the floor in the LSC, some holding signs with phrases relating to police brutality and white supremacy. In the middle of the group was a male student yielding a megaphone who spoke about the purpose of the protest.
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Video credit: Haleigh McGill
CSU junior economics major Kwon Yearby was part of the protest, and said that although the Garner case is what sparked it, it was a stand against all recent acts of police brutality that relate to issues of racism.
“It’s important [for students to get involved] because we are the next generation,” Yearby said. “If we don’t stand up now and get active in the process, America won’t change.”
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Photo credit: Abbie Parr, Elliot Foust and Christina Vessa
In an email sent to the Ethnic Studies department Wednesday, CSU student Sami Slenker explained the goal and motivations of the protest, which she referred to as a “die-in.”
“To bring light to the issue of racism in the United States and to support Mike Brown and Eric Garner we will gather,” Slenker stated in the email. “To engage in a die-in, a method being used across the nation to protest the events stirring out of Ferguson and now New York. This is in hopes of continuing/starting the discussion if racism and privilege in the U.S.”
Slenker said that the die-in meant to lay out in the Lory Student Center with signs as a way to stand against racism.
Collegian Reporter Haleigh McGill can be reached at news@collegian.com, or on Twitter @HaleighMcGill.
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