A group of OU students will be heading to Ferguson.
Thousands will descend on Ferguson, Missouri this weekend to call for an end to what they say is an “epidemic” of racially-motivated police violence.
Among the hoards will be as many as five Ohio University students, including at least three members of OU Student Senate.
The weekend — called “Weekend of Resistance” — consists of a series of panels, marches and meetings sponsored by a group known as Ferguson October, an organization focused on preventing police violence among minority populations.
OU Student Union is spearheading the trip, and had raised $215 on the website gofundme.com by Wednesday night.
Kelli Oliver, Student Senate minority affairs commissioner, said she wanted to support the people in Ferguson, who have, in her words, had to deal with unethical behavior from local police in the aftermath of the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.
“As of right now, the man who shot and killed Mike Brown still has not stood trial, so a lot of people are aggravated,” Oliver said, adding that she hopes to learn from folks who’ve been subjected to police misconduct.
The senior studying commercial photography said she’s talked to OU students who’ve had run-ins with the police departments in Athens, but added that she thinks they are generally “on the side of the people.”
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said earlier this semester that Athens residents generally have a healthy relationship with his officers and those from the Ohio University Police Department.
He said he spoke extensively with OUPD Chief Andrew Powers following Brown’s death and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, to voice their mutual concern for how people view police.
“Chief Powers and I started talking before school started in August about what was going on in Ferguson and our concerns with how the national news might affect our local situation,” Pyle said.
Both department chiefs contacted the Athens-OU Joint Police Advisory council, seeking input on how community outreach programs could be improved and maintained.
“We just want to make sure that we’re positioning ourselves with law enforcement and reaching out to our communities to make sure they know they have a voice with us,” Pyle said.
Ryant Taylor, LGBTQA Affairs commissioner on Student Senate, said he hopes to gain a personal understanding of what he said was racial-targeting that’s occurring in Ferguson.
“I think as a whole this country has a real problem with replacing Jim Crow laws with the ‘War on Drugs’ which is heavily directed at people in urban environments and people of color,”
Taylor said.
The senior studying English referenced statistics he says suggest a disproportionate amount of minorities are incarcerated, though no evidence points to more drug use among minorities.
Those disparities affect cities as ex-convicts struggle to face life after prison and have difficulty finding jobs.
“It kind of reinforces this cycle where certain people in this country are second-class citizens, and they don’t have as much value in the eyes of the government or the justice system.”
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