Olivia Wallace, a junior studying photojournalism and anthropology, and a former Post photographer, said she was inspired to put together a solidarity march after attending protests in Ferguson before returning to OU for the start of the academic year.
Ferguson, Missouri is nearly 500 miles from Ohio University’s Athens campus, but the distance did little to hamper students’ support for Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man who was fatally shot by a police officer on Aug. 9.
Olivia Wallace, a junior studying photojournalism and anthropology, and a former Post photographer, said she was inspired to put together a solidarity march after attending protests in Ferguson before returning to OU for the start of the academic year.
“These people need justice for (Brown), for themselves, for their kids,” Wallace said. “If we’re just going to let this die out, the media is going to go away; they’re going to forget about this.”
Wallace and about a dozen other students marched in the early afternoon from College Green to Baker University Center, where they were met by other students yelling phrases at them such as “Get educated!” and “Get out!”
The marchers continued back to College Green after they were told by Baker Center staff that they could not gather to stand inside and protest.
The demonstration concluded after approximately an hour.
“I think it’s important that college campuses talk about this because it’s a bigger issue than just Mike Brown or Trayvon (Martin) or any of the other victims of police brutality and racial profiling,” Kelli Oliver, a senior studying commercial photography, said.
Other universities around the country also held walkouts in honor of the slain teen, using “#HandsUpWalkout” on social media sites to show solidarity.
Brown’s killing, shortly before the start of his time as a student at Vatterott College in Missouri, ignited many of the demonstrations on college campuses.
The city of Ferguson has seen unrest since the teen’s death more than two weeks ago, with race and police tactics at the center of the national conversation.
“It’s just a story that’s been told again and again and I think people need to see that this is a real issue and if people don’t wake up, it’s just going to get worse and worse,” Ryant Taylor, a junior studying English, said.
Michael Brown’s funeral was held Monday in a St. Louis church.
—Emily Harger contributed to this article.
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