“All lives matter,” called out a Texas Woman’s University dance student as she led an interpretive dance at the university’s free speech space Thursday. “Love. Love. Love.”
More than a handful of dancers walked around students who lay motionless in the grass, holding signs reading “This stops today,” “Black lives matter,” “Don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe.” The phrases have been used in recent weeks on social media and in protests calling attention to the police-involved deaths of unarmed black people. Passers-by at TWU stopped to observe the demonstration, ceasing conversation as they walked by.
At the end of the routine, another dancer called out, “This stops today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Not next month. But today!”
The interpretive dance was just one component of a staged “die-in” protest at the university the day after a grand jury handed down a decision not to indict a white New York police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a unarmed black man who was stopped for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Close to 100 people attended the hourlong peaceful protest at TWU, coming and going as they chose.
Across town at the University of North Texas, at least a couple hundred students participated in a similar protest. Both demonstrations were organized through social media with less than 24 hours’ notice. Students from the two Denton universities gathered in solidarity with other college students and communities holding similar demonstrations across the country Thursday.
“In America, every 28 hours, a black person is killed by a police officer or vigilante,” Michelle Slaughter, organizer for the TWU protest, read from a prepared statement. “It’s clear, based on the mass protest demonstrations we’re seeing across the country, that many communities are tired of the current state of affairs, and people are protesting in an effort to demand that their humanity be recognized and respected.”
Slaughter said she believes people are ready for change.
“I think moms are tired of burying their babies, and brown, black, queer, transgender and undocumented people are tired of systematic racism impacting their lives in very violent and traumatic ways,” Slaughter said.
She said she’s feels Thursday’s demonstration planted a seed that she hopes sparks dialogue in the community.
TWU demonstrators held their hands in the air in protest at times, and tears streamed down the faces of some. They silently held images, including those of Ferguson, Missouri, 18-year-old Michael Brown, 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones of Detroit, 12-year-old Tamir Rice of Cleveland, 22-year-old Ohio man John Crawford III, 22-year-old Chicago woman Rekia Boyd and Garner, who was 43. All were black, and with the exception of Garner, all were fatally shot in recent years in officer-involved shootings, in which either the officers involved were not indicted or charges were dropped.
TWU student Quincy Luper said that as a black man, stories like Brown’s and Garner’s scare him and make him take a look at where he’s at and what he’s doing.
“The same things that happened to these guys can happen to me potentially,” he said.
On Thursday, Luper held a sign in protest reading, “#HandsUp,” “#DontChoke” and “#DontShoot.”
It was important for him to be a part of the demonstration, he said, adding that the justice system must be reformed. He said he hopes such demonstrations spread awareness about societal issues while also showing support for people in Ferguson and the U.S. to come together for the common goal of equality.
TWU student Shellie Elliott said she comes from a mixed-race family and two of her siblings are black. She said she’s fearful for them. Elliott said she joined protesters Thursday because she felt compelled to do something.
“Awareness needs to be brought to what is happening — the police brutality, the useless, senseless violence that is being brought … on the streets by people that are supposed to be helping,” she said. “What is happening is wrong.
“People standing up and saying this isn’t right, it helps.”
Tears welled in the eyes of student Saffyre Falkenberg as she listened to Elliott. On Thursday, she protested alongside her friend.
“It hurts to see that people still have to suffer this way in 2014,” she said. “That people still have to suffer this way is disgusting and shameful. No one should have to suffer because of the color of their skin.”
For four and a half minutes Thursday, students at UNT lay on the ground to represent the four and a half hours Brown’s body laid in the street after his death in August. Student Ian Campbell gave brief remarks shortly after UNT’s “die-in.” Seeing the different viewpoints represented Thursday showed how recent events have impacted people personally, Campbell said.
“I just wanted to make sure that we had a conversation and that we could kind of judge where everyone’s head space was at the time and where we could go from here,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we had a long-term plan to turn the discussion into action.
“I hope that we can sustain this. One action does not have the ability to change things. You have to sustain this. There’s Fergusons all over the country, and in every town you can find elements of Ferguson.”
BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876 and via Twitter at @BritneyTabor.
