December 5, 2014
On Monday night, over 200 students and faculty shared their frustration, fear and outrage about the decision by the Ferguson, MO grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9. The conversation hosted by the Days-Massolo Center (DMC) took place in the Fillius Events Barn, which was filled to capacity.
Associate Director of the DMC Kimberly Williams began the discussion by saying that after the announcement of the jury’s findings on Nov. 24, she spent her Thanksgiving break thinking about mortality, safety and identity. Williams was frank about her absolute disappointment with the decision, and saying she held off on publicizing the Ferguson conversation at Hamilton hoping Darren Wilson would be charged. Director of Diversity and Inclusion Amit Taneja said that instead of laying ground rules for the discussion, participants should “honor each other’s truth, and speak [their] truth.” For the next hour and a half, microphones were handed around the Barn as students shared their reactions and thoughts on the decision not to indict Darren Wilson.
“My reaction was one of confusion. On one hand I don’t want to see cities burn but on the other we’ve tried nonviolence for fifty years and we’re still being shot to death in the streets,” said Jake Blount ’17, who protested at the White House after the decision’s announcement.
Many voiced their dismay that Monday’s conversation was so similar to conversations which took place after Trayvon Martin’s shooting in 2012. Victor Oyadiji ’16 was among the students who discussed the media’s portrayal of young black men.
“The media brings up the fact that Trayvon Martin was suspended or that Mike Brown robbed a convenience store. News articles just keep bringing it up,” he said. “If you rob a convenience store you should go on trial, go to prison, whatever, but you shouldn’t be killed for that. No one deserves to die for being suspended in the eighth grade, these are not the medieval times.”
“How do you, at 28-years-old, come to believe that an 18-year-old black male is like Hulk Hogan?” said Professor of Classics and Africana Studies Shelley Haley, referencing Darren Wilson’s testimony in which he said Michael Brown was ‘like a demon’ and ‘when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding Hulk Hogan.’
“What is it in our society that makes an 18-year-old black man a monster? What’s wrong with us?” Professor Haley asked. “I’m tired of talking and I’m tired of crying.”
Another Hamilton student said he was “furious and broken-up” by the grand jury’s decision, but acknowledged that, as a white man, it was his privilege to be angry and not afraid.
“A lot of us learned new things about one another, and I think members of the Hamilton community got the chance to see that these issues really impact our peers on a personal level,” Blount said.
Several people voiced frustration at the fact that the same students’ faces are seen at events like the Ferguson discussion and that it is difficult to reach other Hamilton students. “What do we do for the people who do not come to these meetings?” many asked.
At the end of the night, the conversation turned to future action for positive change. While students discussed activism, Taneja and Williams also emphasized the importance of self-care as finals approach. Responding to the perception that the same faces are seen at event’s like Monday’s conversation, a suggestion was made that one meaningful way to affect change on Hamilton’s campus would be for those in attendance to bring friends to such events in the future.
“I’m immensely gratified to see the administration taking steps to provide support to students of color on campus by endorsing events like tonight’s; though the Days-Massolo Center has been providing programming like this, public support from other administrative branches increases attendance and raises the profile of the discussion as a whole,” Blount said.
Williams said she was encouraged by the number of students in attendance at the conversation.
“I was really excited and really proud of the Hamilton community for coming out. Our original Ferguson event had around 80 people and for this past event we had around 205,” Williams said. “I think that really speaks volumes in terms of how many people are starting to become interested and invested and ignited. It’s telling that there’s starting to be a trend here, a really positive, constructive trend.”
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