Students at the University of Miami joined demonstrators nationwide, staging a “die-in” Dec. 3.
A thunder of voices resounded as protesters, like a dark cloud, shadowed the sunny Coral Gables campus at the University of Miami (UM).
Michael Brown. Oscar Grant. Eric Garner. Joe Ferrell. Sean Bell. Rekia Boyd. John Crawford. Ezell Ford. Amadou Diallo. These were the names students blared over a megaphone — names of unarmed Black people who were killed by police officers.
It was one example of young adults all across the country’s colleges galvanizing in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which has simultaneously gained attention for stressing the value of Black lives on social media. From Florida, to Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia, college students in the majority of states were at the helm of protests in the United States.
Based in Florida, a group called Dream Defenders assists university students in organizing protests. Director Phillip Agnew said revolutions have always been at the hands of the youth.
“When we talk about the place of young people, it’s always at the center and the front. Young people are the most affected and have the most energy,” he said. “That’s what we’re seeing and that’s why it feels so genuine.”
STUDENTS ‘FIRED UP’
The demonstration at UM on Dec. 3 was the first of several that erupted into a larger effort to shut down congested highways and the international Art Basel events. But first, minority students said they wanted to wake up their own campuses to the injustices they feel threaten Black life.
“What we wanted to do was bring awareness. Our campus is racially diverse but we rarely talk about things,” said Philisha Mesidor, one of four student organizers at UM. “We are here and we do feel strongly.”
In a display of raw emotion, the college students marched near classrooms, through breezeways and around the campus lake. Some cried out in a chorus of chants. “I’m fired up.” “Can’t take no more” echoed across the Lake Osceola, while other student protesters committed to silence to symbolize the killing of a long list of Black people.
One male student wore duct tape over his mouth and a sign from his neck that read “Don’t ask why I can’t talk. Ask Mike Brown.”
Another student, Michael Vante, said the loss of Black life to police officers is evidence of a society that does not stand for true equality.
“Police brutality exists because our society deems it acceptable,” said UM student Michael Vante. “Americans are willing to let those deaths slide because police serve on their behalf. It’s very angering.”
For three hours, students protested in song, with poems, signs and “die-ins,” a demonstration meant to mimic Michael Brown’s body as it lay in the street for more than four hours Aug. 9, after former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shot him dead.
PROTESTS EVOKE STORM OF RESPONSES
Mostly Black faculty stood at the Rock, UM’s popular gathering area, where students’ rallying call “Black Lives Matter” grew in intensity. Donald Spivey, an African-American history professor, said he wanted to show his support.
He spoke with pride about the students, but with a sense of defeat over what he said are repeated offenses of injustice, especially against Black men.
“African-Americans’ experience is all about struggle. If you want to go back to resistance to slavery to all this in Ferguson. We’re still struggling,” Spivey said. “It just doesn’t stop.”
With apathy a huge concern of his, Spivey said he was “delighted just to see the students engaged,” yet stopped talking about handling the issues that touched protesters.
“I’ve given up talking about specific ways to address it. Find it in you to fight. Fight however you need to,” he said.
Other observers stepped out of their classrooms, snapped photos or watched from afar. A few joined the march and “die-in.” Nearly 200 students lay out on the pavement in silence, even as cars drove by on the nearby US-1.
Students said the protest was not about reaching the masses. They really wanted to make a statement to a campus community that was quiet on the issue of police treatment of Blacks.
With University of Miami nestled right by a congested US-1, students kept their protest on a campus that is “historically apathetic.”
“Historically the school has been apathetic with social issues. I hope that they understand the point our disruptions. That this sound, this ruckus compels them to action in their own time,” said Rebecca Garcia, who called herself a Black ally and helped organize the protest.
The response to the protest was a mix of support, confusion, and hate hidden behind the veil of anonymity on a mobile app called Yik Yak.
In a personal email addressed to a student, UM president Donna Shalala denounced what she called “nasty detractors,” writing that she was “outraged that there was such a response.” She said she would join student protesters “next time.” Later Shalala shared a university-wide message lauding respectful, open dialogue.
Donna Shalala’s response to #BlackLivesMatter protesters vs #UMiami campus pic.twitter.com/o4gBrsEz52
— chloe herring (@chloeherring3) December 5, 2014
“A little protest never hurt,” said Jack Koplin, a freshman from Los Angeles.
Koplin said the protest was great as an expression of First Amendment rights, adding that stress on Black life deserved attention.
“From what I’ve seen on the news, it’s something that needs to be heard about,” he said.
Another white observer, Miranda Goot, said she felt obligated to learn about fellow classmates’ concerns, but was having trouble processing her thoughts.
“I feel weird because I’m not in the protest but at the same time I don’t know what the outcome is. I don’t understand what the goals of the protest are besides to raise awareness,” she said.
At Florida International University (FIU) students also looked to disrupt the normalcy they witnessed on campus after two grand juries decided not to indict the police officers who killed unarmed Black men.
“Our campus wasn’t really paying attention to it. People were going to class as usual. I didn’t see any administrators respond and that was personally frustrating to me on a campus that is supposed to be diverse,” said Shaneequa Castle, a graduate student and lead organizer on her campus.
Castle joined other FIU protesters Thursday, following the UM protest, both which were documented on social media through photo and video under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Florida Memorial University (FMU), a historically Black college, was void of student protests but far from passive.
“At UM or places like that you have these protests to hit insensitive white people to let them know don’t say something stupid to a Black person in your class. It’s like to put those who are oblivious on notice,” said William Hobbs, a professor at FMU. “We’re on notice 24/7 here.”
Instead of staging demonstrations on their campus, many FMU students were restless to return to hometowns to participate in street protests, Hobbs said.
“They’ve been saying ‘I got to get home. I have to be there. That’s my mall,’” Hobb said.
Students of the largely Black Howard University also abandoned their campuses to march to the White House and U.S. Supreme Court, according to reports.
“A lot of them are not going for this whole idea of ‘we need to get a ticket to fly out to Ferguson.’ A lot of them realize they need to fight wherever they are,” Hobbs said of his students.
It’s that sense of urgency that is driving many young people to participate in larger protests. The student protests from Dec. 3 and 4 culminated into a Dec. 5 demonstration during Art Basel events at Wynwood.
Suzette Ikejiani and about 10 other UM students were among hundreds of people who flooded the streets, momentarily blocking I-195 to spread their message to Miami’s international art scene that Black lives matter.
Ikejiani said the protest in Wynwood provided the solidarity she did not experience on campus.
“When I walked up to the protest the energy was already so amazing. It was overwhelming to have such a sense of community with people I don’t know at all,” she said. “That feeling is not something I felt at the university.”
Chloe Herring 