{"id":2638,"date":"2015-01-13T11:39:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T16:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=2638"},"modified":"2015-01-13T11:39:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-13T16:39:27","slug":"vigil-held-at-emu-for-killings-of-black-men-in-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2015\/01\/13\/vigil-held-at-emu-for-killings-of-black-men-in-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil held at EMU for killings of black men in U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(From<\/a>

(From left) Yonatan Daniel, Matej Gligorevic, Richard Robinson, Londen Wheeler, and Christian Parks stand in duct-taped silence, holding balloons that Celeste Thomas pops to symbolize deaths. (Photo by Randi B. Hagi)<\/p><\/div>\n

About 60 people held a vigil in the heart of EMU\u2019s campus in early December for black people killed by police in America. Participants attracted by the Black Student Union\u2019s \u201c#StandForFerguson\u201d appeal gathered quietly in the gray mist at Thomas Plaza as club advisor Celeste Thomas <\/b>invited them to \u201cspeak in silence,\u201d showing their solidarity with presence.<\/p>\n

The vigil\u2019s name refers to the death of Michael Brown, who was killed in August in Ferguson, Mo. His death and resulting protests in Missouri spurred the BSU to organize a demonstration in solidarity.<\/p>\n

A broadcasted gospel song contained these words, \u201cThere is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain.\u201d Five students stood in front of the circle, their mouths covered by duct tape, a chain at their feet. In their hands were white balloons, each bearing a name written in black marker.<\/p>\n

Undergraduates Kaltuma Hassan <\/b>and Philip Watson<\/b> read short eulogies for each person\u2019s name written on the balloons at the Dec. 2 vigil. \u201cOne black person is killed every 28 hours in America, whether innocent or guilty,\u201d stated Hassan. \u201cTrayvon Martin, killed February 26, 2012. Seventeen years old, shot in Sanford, Fla., allegedly shot in self defense by George Zimmerman.\u201d As they read through 18 names, Thomas went down the line of balloons, popping each as its name was read. \u201cDante Parker, killed August 12, 2014. Thirty-six years old. Tased to death. Killed by San Bernadino police department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a black, 20-year-old male, I couldn\u2019t help but think that every name that was read aloud could have been me,\u201d said BSU President Londen Wheeler<\/b>, who was one of those holding balloons. \u201cI hope that the attendees were able to feel the discomfort and the disbelief. I also hope that this was an opportunity for the attendees to see that their voice \u2013 although this was a silent protest \u2013 against racist police brutality can help make a difference in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

History professor Mark Sawin<\/b> attended to listen to the BSU and \u201csupport them and all my black students and colleagues who are finding ways to speak out\u2026. We need to tease apart and closely examine the privilege that allows incidents like this [the shooting of Michael Brown] to happen.\u201d \u2014 Randi B. Hagi<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 60 people held a vigil in the heart of EMU\u2019s campus in early December for black people killed by police in America. Participants attracted by the Black Student Union\u2019s \u201c#StandForFerguson\u201d appeal gathered quietly in the gray mist at Thomas Plaza as club advisor Celeste Thomas invited them to \u201cspeak in silence,\u201d showing their solidarity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":2639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[466,6],"tags":[500,497,496,498,495,416,493,499,494,492],"class_list":["post-2638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fallwinter-2014-15","category-magazine","tag-black-student-union","tag-celeste-thomas","tag-christian-parks","tag-kaltuma-hassan","tag-londen-wheeler","tag-mark-sawin","tag-matej-gligorevic","tag-philip-watson","tag-richard-robinson","tag-yonatan-daniel","issues-fallwinter-2014-15"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2640,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638\/revisions\/2640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}