Since a grand jury in St. Louis County, Mo. decided against indicting Darren Wilson, a now-former police officer, for the August 9 shooting of Michael Brown, protests have raged across the nation—and have even spread to Bowdoin. Student activists have held a candlelight vigil, joined protests off campus and are currently planning more events to raise awareness and spur action.
Across the nation, many have felt called to action to protest the racial dynamics present in law enforcement and to demand justice for these civilian deaths.
Over the past few months, students on a large number of college campuses such as Stanford University, Oberlin College, Texas A&M, Harvard University, Yale University, Colorado College and Howard University have taken action.
At Harvard, for example, students staged a traffic-blocking die-in at Harvard Square where people lay down as if they were dead; Oberlin held a walk out, workshops, and class discussions; and students at Howard took a photo with their hands in the air to demonstrate solidarity and mobilized others to participate in marches in Washington, D.C.
As for Bowdoin, on the night of the grand jury decision, Symone Howard ’15 and the Central Committee of the African American Society organized a campus-wide vigil on the Bowdoin College Museum of Art steps—the first organized event on campus that directly addressed the grand jury decision.
“As soon as the decision came out, we knew we needed to do something because the issue hit so close to home as black women and men,” said Howard. “In the back of our heads, we knew that was the likely outcome.”
Between 75 to 100 students arrived at the John Brown Russwurm African American Center at 10 p.m. for the vigil. Candles were distributed, but the organizers eventually ran out.
On the way to the Museum steps, the group stopped outside of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L) to announce that the vigil was about to take place, and more students joined them.
After the stop at H-L, the group assembled on the steps for five minutes of silence—a minute to represent each of the 4.5 hours that Brown’s body lay in the street.
Following the minutes of silence, several students spoke and read poems, and then the group made a silent walk around the quad.
Michelle Kruk ’16, who read a poem entitled “Cuz He’s Black,” said in an email to the Orient, “As a campus, we have done an unsatisfactory job–in my opinion–in discussing what is happening in Ferguson and taking some sort of concrete action about it. I am deeply disappointed in the administration’s silence surrounding this topic.”
The vigil lasted about 45 minutes. Noting the diversity of students at the protest–different student organizations, athletic teams and individuals–Howard found the vigil to be very meaningful.
“Honestly, I think that Bowdoin students could do a bit more [about the issue]. The vigil was a start to that,” said Howard. “It shows that even though we’re all part of these different organizations and we all have really busy schedules and do many different things we can come together to confront this issue.”
Throughout the latter part of this semester, there has been a group of students participating in weekly Intergroup Dialogue discussions regarding race and training students to facilitate such conversations.
During their discussion on Monday, the group split into two—people of color and caucasians— to discuss what students of color want from their white counterparts, and vice versa.
“A big thing for people of color asking white people was to use your privilege and be confident and brave enough to know that you have a part in the struggle,” said Zhang. “A lot of people who are white really question their legitimacy in participating in these actions, but I definitely think that people of color were asking for the courage to speak not on behalf of people of color, but with people of color.”
Zhang also said that the group of white students asked for patience and for there to be a readiness to correct their mistakes.
“A lot of them talked about how they’re here to learn from these conversations and they want to be called out if necessary,” said Zhang.
One of the more powerful things Zhang heard at the Intergroup Dialogue discussion was when one person of color asked that white people interact more with people of color.
“I thought that was really powerful because [the student of color] talked a lot about how the only way to feel like black lives matter is if you actually interact with black people,” she added.
From these meetings, A.D.D.R.E.S.S., another student organization, has gathered questions to create further dialogue on campus.
After the stop at H-L, the group assembled on the steps for five minutes of silence—a minute to represent each of the four hours that Brown’s body lay in the street.
Following the minutes of silence, several students spoke and read poems, and then the group made a silent walk around the Quad.
Michelle Kruk ’16, who read a poem entitled “Cuz He’s Black,” said in an email to the Orient, “As a campus, we have done an unsatisfactory job—in my opinion—in discussing what is happening in Ferguson and taking some sort of concrete action about it. I am deeply disappointed in the administration’s silence surrounding this topic.”
The vigil lasted about 45 minutes. Noting the diversity of students at the protest—different student organizations, athletic teams and individuals—Howard found the vigil to be very meaningful.
“Honestly, I think that Bowdoin students could do a bit more [about the issue]. The vigil was a start to that,” said Howard. “It shows that even though we’re all part of these different organizations and we all have really busy schedules and do many different things we can come together to confront this issue.”
Bowdoin President Barry Mills sent an email to the student body Thursday evening addressing the issue.
“Everyone in America must be able to be confident in the rule of law and in the equal and fair application of the law to each of our citizens,” he wrote. “This is a basic tenet of our society. Here at Bowdoin, our steadfast focus on serving the common good means that we must continue to engage these issues that are so central to our future growth, wellbeing and humanity.”
Throughout the latter part of this semester, there has been a group of students participating in weekly Intergroup Dialogue discussions regarding race and training students to facilitate such conversations.
During their discussion on Monday, the group split into two—people of color and Caucasians— to discuss what students of color want from their white counterparts, and vice versa.
“A big thing for people of color asking white people was to use your privilege and be confident and brave enough to know that you have a part in the struggle,” said Elina Zhang ’16, the head of A.D.D.R.E.S.S. “A lot of people who are white really question their legitimacy in participating in these actions, but I definitely think that people of color were asking for the courage to speak not on behalf of people of color, but with people of color.”
Zhang also said that the group of white students asked for patience and for there to be a readiness to correct their mistakes.
“A lot of them talked about how they’re here to learn from these conversations and they want to be called out if necessary,” said Zhang.
One of the more powerful things Zhang heard at the Intergroup Dialogue discussion was when one person of color asked that white people interact more with people of color.
“I thought that was really powerful because [the student of color] talked a lot about how the only way to feel like black lives matter is if you actually interact with black people,” she added.
From these meetings, A.D.D.R.E.S.S., another student organization, has gathered questions to create further dialogue on campus.
On Tuesday, they held a meeting on the shooting and lack of indictment. After setting some ground rules for discussion, eight groups were formed to talk about the Intergroup Dialogue’s questions, including: What was the most prominent and immediate emotion after the non-indictment? And, were you or your family immediately or personally affected by the events in Ferguson?
The gathering began with a moment of silence followed by a video. Zhang, said the film discussed the inherent frustration of how repetitive and cyclical events like these are. She added that human beings have limits, which is why protesters are now hitting the streets.
For Zhang, it is most infuriating to hear people deny the gravity of what happened.
“[I want Bowdoin students to] at least acknowledge what’s going on, take time to do research and understand why people are literally quitting their jobs to protest peacefully,” she said. “I want to beg the Bowdoin population to go out of their way to learn about what’s going on. I really, really wish people cared more.”
Zhang also said there will be a die-in, which will take place today in the dining halls. Another member of A.D.D.R.E.S.S., Caroline Martinez ’16, is from St. Louis and went to Ferguson for the city’s Weekend of Resistance, a weekend of protest and demonstration, in October.
On October 8, her first day there, another young black man, Vonderrit Myers, was shot in St. Louis by a police officer. Seeing the action, including marches, protests, and vigils every day, moved Martinez.
“It was great and powerful. It was incredibly sad and at the same time it gave me a lot of hope,” said Martinez. “People were in pain and mourning together.”
One of the more powerful actions she took part in was a protest outside of the Ferguson police station.
“It was pouring rain and people would just not leave,” said Martinez. “In the end, police officers did not end up arresting many people, but it was great to be there with people who I loved and deeply care about his issue and are willing to sacrifice their comfort and financial stability for it.”
Martinez also spoke to the power of hearing people chanting, especially lines such as “Black lives matter.”
“It is incredibly important because I think that in the U.S. we can see that so many policies or lack of policies show that black lives don’t matter—the fact that Darren Wilson was not indicted, the fact that there’s really poor housing and people of color do not have access to the same type of educational resources,” said Martinez.
Another chant she remembered was, “The whole damn system is guilty as hell. Indict, convict, send that killer cop to jail.”
Martinez said this chant is important because it shows the connection between Wilson and other systems of oppression that are in place in the United States. To her, and to many others, it is not just about Brown but also a reflection of all the systems of injustice that she feels are in place in the United States.
“When I think of Ferguson, I’m not scared of the protesters,” said Martinez. “I’m scared of the police that are literally there with sniper guns and I don’t think there’s been enough attention put on this as much as there has been on the rioting.”
Martinez said that more action is needed–especially on campus.
“I haven’t seen people connect this with how race is dealt with or not dealt with at Bowdoin,” said Martinez. “If we just think about important resources and groups on campus—for example, if we think about the Outing Club, the Outing Club is the largest club on campus and it is predominantly white. I love the Outing Club, but most trips that I go on I am not just the only Latina, but the only person of color. I think that that’s very telling—that the College isn’t putting a big effort getting students of color at the Outing Club.”
Justin Pearson ’17 would like to see more people participate in conversations surrounding race, class, gender and privilege.
“We, students at a prestigious institution and benefiting from the best education in the country, must create the initiatives and address the problems head on. We cannot become comfortable with the status quo,” he said in an email to the Orient.
This week brings more developments around the issue of race in the US. On December 3, a New York grand jury did not indict white police officer Daniel Pantaleo for causing the death of a black man, Eric Garner, with a chokehold. This decision has ignited even more protests across the nation.
“Bowdoin, as an institution and as a student body, ought to, at the very least, acknowledge that these tragedies are happening and that they do affect us—even here in Brunswick, Maine,” wrote Kruk in an email to the Orient. “There are students at this school who do care. We need to mobilize those students.”