The sounds of Court Street turned heads Sunday afternoon, though this time it was not illicit festivities but cries for peace and justice that had people looking.
In an event organized by Student Senate and Alpha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity, about 100 individuals joined in a protest against violence, especially toward African-American males, as they marched around campus, stopping on College Green to tell personal stories of discrimination and to encourage the crowd to demand equality.
“They still killing people like me. … How pathetic of a nation that is built united, but are separated by colors?” said Derrick Holifield, president of Alpha Phi Alpha. “More justice, more peace! More justice, more peace!”
Ohio University’s campus had about 1,035 African-American students on campus during the 2011-12 academic year, the most recent data available, making up only 4.8 percent of the student population that year.
However, blacks and whites alike joined together to protest what they perceive as the nation’s culture of inequality in the “Peace and Action Demonstration.”
“When I look at this crowd, I see a lot of empowered people here,” said Jacob Chaffin, a senior studying education and member of the OU Student Union.
“With that, we have a role to go out and make sure that when we see racism from other white people that we are correcting it.”
But addressing incidents of racial discrimination was not the focus of the rally; instead protestors discussed how to best bring an end to inequality.
“You have come here because you want to better yourself, but don’t let it stop there,” said Alexis Chambers, a junior studying political science and African American studies and Black Affairs commissioner in senate. “When you get a degree, go back to your hometown … and go speak to somebody.”
Education was a common mantra throughout the afternoon, being cited as the key to causing societal change.
“Education is power. Knowledge is power,” said Tiarra Comer, vice commissioner of Minority Affairs in senate and one of the event’s organizers. “A lot of people are not aware of what is going on … so just to make people more aware of how hurtful the society can be to people in it.”
The march was one of numerous events on campus highlighting black alumni and current black students’ involvement at OU.
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