After hearing about and discussing rioting and looting in Baltimore last month, students in Carlos Adams’ Race and Ethnicity in the Pacific class at Green River College decided to take action.
They hosted a Black Lives Matter rally on the college’s main campus Monday.
The unrest in Baltimore followed the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died of a spinal cord injury in police custody. His death comes in the midst of several unarmed black men killed by police across the country over the past year.
“I asked the question, “Could (a situation similar to Baltimore) happen here?'” Adams said of the discussion in his class. “The students all felt it could.”
The students discussed what they could do about the situation.
“We all agreed, ‘Yes, we want to do something about it,'” said Keith Beasley, a student in Adams’ class who helped organize the rally.
Adams was pleased to see students take leadership of the rally.
“It is neat,” he said. “Most have never done this before. … To watch them do it on their own, I haven’t felt this good about something in a long time.”
Beasley and other participants in the rally recruited passersby to sign a petition, asking the college to implement training programs for its security personnel and nearby first responders and civil servants.
“I like the idea that they are going to hold the campus accountable,” Adams said.
Students and faculty of all ethnicities and backgrounds were encouraged to sign the petition and join the rally.
“This is a human thing, not a race thing,” he said.
Halfway through the hour-long rally, about 50 students and faculty linked arms to form a circle in Kennelly Commons outside the Lindbloom Student Center, chanting “together we can.” Several students spoke to the group who had gathered.
The number of people who signed the petition and took part in the rally impressed Beasley.
“I’m very pleased with those that are not afraid,” he said. “We ain’t hiding from no one.”
Johnson hopes the rally raises awareness of minorities on campus.
“I want people on my campus to see we are here and we exist, whether they know our names or not,” she said.
Beasley doesn’t know if the students will hold other events in the future.
Students also sold Black Lives Matter T-shirts during the rally, with proceeds benefiting a scholarship fund.
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