OU’s Chapter of the NAACP held a rally Monday to inform students of the various racial issues still present in the United States.
Recent events that drew national attention prompted a group of Ohio University students to use their Labor Day holiday to raise awareness on what they consider racial injustices.
OU’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held the “War on Black Rally” Monday in response to recent racially charged events that have gained international media attention.
The event, held at the Scripps Amphitheater, was attended by approximately 100 students and concluded with a prayer circle calling for future peace.
The stories of several slain African American individuals were told, ranging from Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was killed in Mississippi in 1955, to Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old who was killed in Florida in 2012.
“The spark was the Mike Brown incident, but we didn't want to forget about the incidents that happened prior to Mike Brown,” said Shambrion Treadwell, a senior studying theater performance and the president of OU’s NAACP chapter.
The story of Michael Brown, an unarmed, 18-year-old African American man, garnered national attention after he was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri on Aug. 9.
Another rally in support of Ferguson was held at OU on Aug. 25, in which about a dozen students marched from College Gate to Baker University Center.
“I just think it’s important to address all the things that are going on right now in Ferguson and all the things that are going on this year,” said Brooke Siggers, a freshman studying global studies and Spanish, who attended the rally.
NAACP members told stories of victims of police brutality, read poems and essays and performed a dance.
“Being a predominantly white campus, a lot of Caucasian students haven't been around African Americans ... they want to help but they don't know how they can,” Treadwell said. “Even by stopping something they see (and speaking up) … just doing that, that means something to us.”
As of Spring Semester 2014, 79 percent of students on OU’s Athens campus identified as white, a statistic that was not represented in the rally’s crowd.
Many rally attendees — who were mostly black — and members of the NAACP expressed their discontent with the lack of diversity at Monday’s rally.
“It’s almost as if we’re preaching to the choir, like, a lot of these faces are the ones we see every day,” said Nile Harris, a sophomore studying chemistry pre-med and the treasurer for OU’s NAACP. “It hurts a little bit, but that’s what we’re here for. We’re trying to learn and develop new ways and strategies to get people to come.”
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