A little more than 50 days ago, a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. People across the country tuned in the evening of Nov. 24 to hear St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch announce the verdict.
A handful of those viewers were Elon University students sitting in the Center for Race, Ethnicity & Diversity Education (CREDE), who watched in shock and disbelief. The silence of mixed emotions lasted only a short time — the students, including sophomore Kennedy Ojimadu and junior Jonathan Glover, quickly launched into a discussion about what could be done.
“With the release of that information we were all frustrated, surprised,”Ojimadu said. “There were a lot of emotions in the room. But we wanted to put it toward something productive, something that we could possibly do here on campus.”
Word of a potential protest spread quickly around Elon, with students brainstorming via text message and social media and CREDE acting as an unofficial command center. When senior D’Netria Spear joined students in CREDE, she made a suggestion that would be the impetus for a string of actions on campus.
“[Spear] really is the one who kind of came up with the ‘Let’s take it from having this discussion to an action,’” Glover said.
The frustration of the students initially led to ideas for controversial chants and signs, but the group decided another way might be more effective.
“It became the question of, ‘What’s more important, showing how angry you are or getting your point across?’” Glover said. “And that’s when it got toned down into a silent protest.”
The protest was held during Elon’s annual Luminaries celebration Dec. 6. Students held signs and candles but remained silent. Spear said the message seemed unclear.
“There were some negative comments that came from it,” she said. “Out of the negative, I saw that a lot of people felt like it was too aggressive, or was an inappropriate time to protest.”
The feedback gave her the idea for an event that would allow students to showcase artistic representations of their opinions on social justice in the United States and beyond. She decided to call it “Let Us Breathe,” a phrase that trended on social media. It later became the mantra of protestors upset by a lack of indictment against the officer involved with the death of Eric Garner.
“‘Let Us Breathe’ was an idea that I had to say, ‘We’re not going to protest, we’re just going to talk about these issues, but let’s talk about them artistically,” Spear said. “Let’s dance, let’s sing, let’s do spoken word, let’s show you art.”
“Let Us Breathe” will be a safe space for students to express their own experiences or perform songs, dances or poetry. Spear has reached out to a cappella groups, performing arts students and other talents to reach a broader audience for this event, which is set for Feb. 5.
In planning this event, which is co-sponsored by CREDE and Elon’s National PanHellenic Council, Spear has developed a clearer view of why diversity remains an unresolved issue at Elon.
“I feel like ignorance is a big issue on Elon’s campus,” she said. “People just don’t know how to deal with other people that aren’t like them. Oftentimes it makes us uncomfortable. So I think that if we can promote awareness about this issue in particular, then it will give that space for people to know how to communicate about it in the future.”
She hopes this event will lead to greater understanding of why people nationwide were upset by the deaths of these men.
While the event aims to allow students to express themselves and their opinions, Spear will see each act that signs up. This screening process was put into place to ensure the event remains respectful and, above all, aims to include the Elon community in a discussion instead of placing blame.
“I want people to understand that this event is not to target anyone,” Spear said. “It’s not to say, ‘This is your fault.’ It is an event to stress that point of awareness. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want it to be an open mic event. I want it to be [about] awareness and to provide understanding.”
Glover agreed, adding that he aims to continue the momentum of the initial protest and the upcoming artistic showcase. He and a few other students plan to stage another peaceful protest this spring. He said these actions are in protest of the system responsible for these deaths and grand jury verdicts — they do not aim to place blame on members of the Elon community.
“We’re not mad at Elon,” Glover said. “They didn’t do anything. We came to the conclusion that we’re not upset at Darren Wilson either. We’re disappointed in the system that allows him to get away with it. So that’s the point that we really need to bring across.”
Spear and Glover, who are leading plans for “Let Us Breathe,” invite students from all backgrounds to attend. They welcome those who support the protests as well as those who do not.
“I want enlightenment. I’m not asking for you to agree. I’m asking for you to understand,” Spear said.
“Let Us Breathe” will be held at 7:30 p.m Feb. 5. in the Numen Lumen Pavilion’s McBride Gathering Space. Prospective showcase acts should contact student coordinator D’Netria Spear at dspear2@elon.edu before Jan. 29 to sign up.