Pit Protests Continue On UNC Campus

Although it’s almost exam time for UNC students, the Pit wasn’t quiet Tuesday.

Students gathered and linked arms standing around the Pit in protest of the Ferguson outcome, police brutality and racial profiling. The assembly lasted for more than four hours to represent how long Michael Brown laid in the street after being shot to death by Officer Darren Wilson.

“So what’s going on right now is that we’re holding a protest just so we can continue to raise awareness about police brutaility against African American individuals within this country,” sophomore Kierra Campbell says. “We’re calling out names of victims who have been killed by police brutality because of their race and so we just want individuals to know why we are out here and we’re standing here because we want to have open dialogue. We’re telling people to ask us, if you don’t understand why we’re here, why we’re angry, it’s about raising awareness. It’s about standing up, saying the names and giving light to these victims who have not received justice.”

The protest gained momentum via social media, which is how Communication Studies major Ashley Winkfield became involved.

“After the announcement one of the organizers, she put on Twitter, ‘I wish we had a space to talk about this,” she says. “And from that, the three of us we kind of were like well let’s, let’s make a space, let’s, let’s have a space to talk. And from that we kind of were able to really decide that we need to make an action, we need to make a start of something, because the organizations weren’t necessarily moving fast enough. That’s not nothing against them, but just you know, we wanted this to be a people’s movement. We wanted this to be something where people can come together and really express how they feel and be able to protest in peace. But also to build awareness, because I think a lot of the issues come from people just don’t talk about it.”

Winkfield says they key is to get people talking.

“People don’t talk about race, we’re in a post racial society,” she says. “ So right now it’s really about making sure that people are talking, people are listening, because we do have a lot to say,” she say. “You know we have people being killed, every 28 hours a black person is killed by the police and it’s happening at the same rate of lynchings during the Jim Crow era. But these are things that nobody talks about.”

The protest started at 10 a.m. with five people. Winkfield says it grew tremendously throughout the day.

“If you don’t why we’re here, ask us,” she says. “And people do ask and we say join us and they’ll be like, ‘Can’t right now, but when I come back from class I will.’ You know someone just had a whole conversation here just asking, ‘So what is the point of all this? Like you’re saying all these names, you know, you’re, you’re making a stink, but what are you actually doing?’ But it’s a conversation regardless. So even if it’s not a positive conversation, it’s still a conversation that someone is learning. There’s an exchange of ideas, there’s an exchange. Even if you don’t agree, we can express how we feel.”

This gathering took place a week after 500 people gathered in the Pit after a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson.

Pit Protests Continue On UNC Campus

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