The national spotlight on police-involved shootings within the past year has kept members of the Black Lives Matter movement motivated to protest, even here at Ball State.
More than 50 students participated in a Black Lives Matter march Sept. 9 to spread awareness about the issue.
The demonstration was organized by University Democrats and the Black Student Association and went from the bell tower to the quad. Protesters were escorted down McKinley Avenue by the University Police Department.
Joe Clabough, a junior and president of University Democrats, said his and the executive board’s main goal for this year is to be more socially involved on campus. Because their numbers are up this year, they figured it would be a good time to host something.
“Racial injustice was something we all felt strongly about, one thing led to another and we contacted BSA, got ahold of UPD and got the university to sign off on this," Clabough said. “There’s this large silent majority that kind of sit back and watch all this happen, and you know they feel as if that not saying anything means they aren’t doing anything wrong, but in reality they are taking a voice away from generations and letting racism fill that void.”
Political power became a hot topic as the demonstration halted at the quad. James Barham, a 59-year-old student who is also a Black Lives Matter supporter, emphasized the importance of voting.
“It’s okay to mobilize, it’s okay to organize, it’s okay to protest, but once we become a political force then we are somebody to be reckoned with,” Barham said."We cannot legislate hatred, but we can vote hatred out of society, we can vote them out of office.”
During the march, the protestors also highlighted how Black Lives Matter relates to the All Lives Matter trend.
"The movement is being targeted as a kind of hate group by a lot of people on social media," Clabough said.
He said he saw a post on Facebook that said the Black Lives Matter movement was taking out all non-blacks.
"That’s certainly not true," he said. "As you saw today, we had a quasi Black Lives Matter event and definitely half the crowd was white.”
Some people on social media and in protests have gone against using Black Lives Matter and instead used all lives, but saying "all lives don't matter" isn't the point of this movement, said Malik Hurt, a member of University Democrats.
“[Black Lives Matter] wouldn’t be a huge deal if all lives truly did matter—that’s why we need this,” Hurt said.“Society doesn’t value black lives as much as the lives of those with fairer skin and we can bring that about by recognizing the problem at first, then doing something about it.”
Mary Pat Stemnock, a member of University Democrats, agreed with Hurt—black people have had a disadvantage for most of the century, and even before that, she said.
“We say 'Black Lives Matter' because black lives have been systematically destroyed by our society’s police forces, by our social programs, and by political agendas," Stemnock said.
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