College Students Join Freddie Gray Protests
The death of Freddie Gray—the young black man who died mysteriously after being taken into police custody in Baltimore—has inspired protests in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and even outside the U.S. Embassy in London. College students are driving many of the protests.
Thursday evening on the University of Michigan campus, for instance, hundreds of students gathered for a candlelight vigil to stand in solidarity with the protests across the country triggered by Gray’s death but also to protest police brutality in general. “It’s really important for me to show solidarity, to be active in the fight, to show that we care, and that we’re paying attention—and that we want something to change,” said Lauren Seale, a 24-year-old medical student. She’s also the chair of White Coats for Black Lives, a group of medical students dedicated to raising awareness about the issues most important to people of color.
Earlier this week, students from several Baltimore-area schools—including Morgan State University, Goucher College, and Towson College—marched in that city. On Thursday, several black student groups at Yale hosted a vigil specifically to honor black people who have died at the hands of police. Students at Syracuse University have also rallied.
During Thursday night’s vigil on Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus, about a 45-minute drive west of Detroit, students wrote on white paper bags the names of 384 people who had died because of police brutality. The bags were then placed on the grass near the university’s law school.
This wasn’t the first time the university has been the scene of protests about police brutality. One notable example was last year’s “Die-In” inside the university’s law school to mark the high-profile deaths of several black men, including Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Related stories on TakePart:
• Before Freddie Gray: A Timeline of American Unrest
• More Military Gear for Police in Baltimore May Not Mean Safer Communities
• Before Freddie Gray: A Timeline of American Unrest
• Baltimore’s Curfew May Control Crowds, but It Won’t Fix Bigger Problems
Original article from TakePart
