Posted on 12/03/2014 1:27:14 PM PST by pabianice
Approximately 800 University of Massachusetts students, faculty and staff participated in a national “Hands Up, Walk Out” protest Monday afternoon.
The protest was organized in response to the Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
Participants, angered by the decision, assembled in front of the Student Union at 1:01 EST to coincide with the moment Brown was shot.
A four minute, 30 second moment of silence was held to remember the four hours and 30 minutes Brown lay dead on the sidewalk in the St. Louis suburb.
Following the moment of silence, event organizer Jasmine Bertrand-Halidy, a kinesiology major, read from a statement saying, “This is a national call to action. I am walking out in solidarity with Mike Brown and all of the innocent people who have been murdered due to state sanctioned violence. If you believe black lives matter, join me.”
Attendees cheered as speakers addressed the myriad of problems facing communities of color around the nation.
UMass graduate student Rayoung Song held a small yellow sign with the name of Phillip Pannell, a black teenager who was shot by New Jersey police in 1990. Song said that what happened in Ferguson is a national problem.
“There are so many reasons why I’m here,” Song said. “The issue of racism affects everyone.”
The event was organized by Bertrand-Halidy of Student Bridges and Maija Hall from the Center for Policy and Advocacy in coordination with a Missouri-based group called Ferguson Action, whose website reported that at least 83 schools and businesses participated in the national walk out protest.
Ahead of the event, UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy communicated his support in an email to the campus community, saying, “It will assuredly raise awareness of what Ferguson reveals about the state of racial justice in our country and will provide an opportunity for our community to come together in solidarity.”
Subbaswamy urged faculty to accommodate students who wished to participate in the event.
Amherst resident Sovann-Malis Loeung came to the University to join the protest with her daughter.
“What do I have to do to protect my children?” Loeung said.
Loeung held a banner that read, “Justice for Carolyn,” in support of Carolyn Gardner, an Amherst High School teacher who was the target of racist threats last year.
“This issue of racism is very important and it really is a local issue,” Loeung said.
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8 Responses to “‘Hands Up, Walk Out’: UMass community responds to Ferguson decision”
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Steve says: December 2, 2014 at 3:11 am
Is 800 students really the “UMass community”?
Mark says: December 2, 2014 at 7:58 am
For a large university, there sure aren’t many critical thinkers around here. The issue of racism affects everyone and it’s a two-way street. Where is the concurrent outrage for Mr. Farrakhan openly calling for genocide in a speech given just a few days ago? Or Sharpton and Jesse Jackson’s respective call-to-arms in their remarks over the past week? Does anyone have a problem with the way those people incite violence?
What about black on white crime, which is far more prevalent than police killings of blacks? I would argue that black on white crime should more often than not be properly classified as a hate crime, except there is a standing order from the US Atty General not to prosecute blacks for hate crimes. Does that seem right to anyone?
In the particular case of Mr. Brown, it is clearly a matter of a false cause. The guy was a threatening criminal who assaulted an officer, reached for the man’s gun, and had just committed a violent crime. Why won’t a judge unseal his criminal records pursuant to a media request made yesterday? Because it ruins the narrative that Michael Brown was a good guy. It seems the only person who thought he was a good guy were his parents. Maybe you don’t deserve to die for robbing a store. But if you bum-rush a cop trying to do his job in apprehending a violent criminal, well, you have to realize you might get shot. Everything else about this case is just noise.
alum says: December 2, 2014 at 9:31 am
I note that the story says 800 students, faculty and staff……..can’t help the students who just walked out of classes they or their parents paid for but if any faculty or staff walked out on their jobs, they should be fired. I guess they were lucky it was lunch time.
ac Bears says: December 2, 2014 at 1:13 pm
A 400 year history of racial oppression is a one way street in the U.S., and I walked out with my dean and associate dean. Who’s going to fire me?
School parent says: December 2, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Why does the Chancellor seek to honor Michael Brown, a big bully who engaged in a strong-arm robbery, and then struck a police officer and tried to wrestle a gun away from the officer. Michael Brown was no choir boy. Indeed, he bullied and intimidated a store owner and then sought to terrorize a police officer. As a parent of a current student, and a donor to the school, I am disgusted that an unholy alliance of leftist radicals and a cohort of some minority student seek to turn the Ferguson incident into a racially divisiveness event. It is a shame that Michael Brown chose to engage in criminal activity, and got himself killed by attacking a police officer. I know that there is a quiet majority of students and parents who respect the law, and respect the grand jury process. Unfortunately, the politically correct faculty members are able to intimidate students into spouting the party one. Indeed, it is dangerous for students to speak truth to the power of the ruling faculty elite who impose their ideology on students. What is pathetic is that a false narrative of the Ferguson incident is now being propagated by the mainstream media and leftists on campus. Never let the truth get in the way of a warped political narrative.
Kris says: December 2, 2014 at 2:31 pm
No one is going to fire you or those deans, Zac. That is the problem.
alum says: December 2, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Zac-
I’m guessing no one ’cause you don’t have a real job. And I’m guessing no one is going to fire your dean and associate dean given the current makeup of the university leadership.
Zac Bears says: December 2, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Judge not lest ye be judged.
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While I can somewhat understand people’s different opinions of the case, I just can’t understand the hands up don’t shoot symbolism. This never happened. Brown never had hands up to surrender. Yet somehow this has become a symbol of this event, even though it didn’t happen that way.
The actual symbolism should be heads down, in the charging position, charging someone like a bull. But that actual symbolism of what really happened doesn’t fit the liberal narrative surrounding this case.
They should just keep walking...
how about Walk Out? Dont Come Back?
I think that “Hands Up, Walk Out” is a good idea.
If Brown had done that instead of attacking Officer Wilson and trying to take his gun he would be alive today.
Not really. All of these morons added together amounts to about 1/10 of a single Tea Party Rally that the media ignores.
because it doesn’t fit the leftist narrative.
But hey, it may work for them and they might get what they are asking for and more . . .
Unbelievable, to think that so much money from parents and grandparents is spent to get these kids a good education, only to be brainwashed by a bunch of commie teachers. It just proves how devoid these jerks are of the facts in the case. As a country we are plummeting down a cesspool to hell.
Neither has there been a free Cuba in 55 years, but that doesn't stop the accolades to Fidel and his mafia.
Mass stupidity on steroids squared times eleven.
It seems like if they REALLY wanted to show solidarity, they’d steal cigars and beat the crap out of any Asian store keeper they can find.
Does this mean I can do “hands down, kick you square in the balls?”
These children are so incredibly silly.
True, but it wasn’t all that much different in the late 60s
They now either know that “Hands Up” was a lie, or they are complete morons who don’t belong in any college.
800 (including faculty and staff) out of 22,000+ undergraduates isn’t very impressive.
But if I were a student (or paying parent) I would be pretty p***ed that class was canceled for this BS.
I remember Blacks took the day off my high school for something to do with Malcolm X(1992)...best day of school ever.
800 morons.
“unarmed black teenager”
Everyone take a drink!!!
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