Parkway North students, staff respond to Ferguson

On the evening of Monday, Nov. 24, the nation waited in silence to hear the court decision regarding the possible indictment of police officer Darren Wilson, who had shot an unarmed black teenager Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO on Aug. 9. Following the incident, protests, many peaceful but some violent, took place in and around St. Louis.

The evening of the verdict, people around the country watched and listened to local and national broadcasts as St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced that the grand jury had made the decision not to indict Darren Wilson. Minutes later, protests began around the nation.

On Monday Dec.1, the first day back from school after Thanksgiving break, about 200 students participated in a walkout in response to the non-indictment announced a week earlier. The walkout was one of many across the country. The intention of the walkout was to show solidarity nationwide and speak out against racism and other injustices.

“It’s really important to teach our students about the fact that we want them to think through issues, and when they see some type of injustice or something that they view as injustice, it’s important to speak up,” said English teacher Heather Fleming, who is a sponsor for the student group People of Vision.

Later that week, on Friday Dec. 5, over fifty students participated in a ‘die-in’ before school. In a die-in, participants lay down silently for 4.5 minutes to represent the 4.5 hours that Michael Brown lay dead on the street. The purpose is to raise awareness about police violence against black citizens. Recent incidents include Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner.

“[The die-in] is symbolic of the people who have lost their lives as a result of violence- in this particular case, police action. It ends up being a form of protest, because then people can have a visual of individuals laying in the prone position,” said English teacher Heather Fleming. “The reality is that in some of the die-in situations the whole purpose is to bring awareness. There are individuals who, because their life experience is so different than others, have an ability as part of their privilege to not be aware of what other people are suffering, so this brings awareness.”

The die-in at Parkway North was one of many that happened throughout the nation during the weeks following the announcement of the non-indictment. The die-in was held in front of the library at 7:29, disrupting students walking to class and generating dialogue.

This semester, People of Vision with help from the teacher social justice group organized three student discussions on Ferguson, regarding the shooting, the protests, and the indictment. The discussions were held during academic lab, and all students interested were encouraged to attend.

“The goal of our discussions is [figuring out] what we want to do in school. So far, it’s been about what we’re feeling and why we’re feeling this because we want to understand ourselves before we take action,” said senior Khaila Jones, People of Vision member .

Jones encourages students to take part in discussions and other opportunities to use their voice to speak up for what they believe. “It’s our world and our future; if we sit back and let everyone else do it, then we are going to have the same problems,” Jones said.

For many protesters, the reason for the protests was never just about the indictment of Darren Wilson but for a change in the systemic racism that is in the United States.

“We weren’t protesting for the indictment, we’re protesting for our beliefs and our rights and equality of opportunity,” said Jones, “We’re still protesting because we still have these problems; just because one incident happened doesn’t mean that they disappeared… It’s more of a prejudice; it’s more of a mindset.”

Fleming said that since the shooting of Michael Brown and other similar cases around the nation, many people have become aware of the problems that black people encounter, including racial profiling and other systemic issues.

“People are still protesting because in the end, whether you agreed with Darren Wilson or you agreed with Michael Brown, the system is broken. We’re not just talking about individuals, we’re talking about a system,” said Fleming.

These issues are not just recent ones- there have been at least 14 incidents involving a police officer shooting and killing black citizens in 2014.

Fleming gave her students an analogy to help understand this, “if we take this desk and put books and paper on top of it, there’s going to be a point where it only takes one more paper for that whole desk to collapse. The one more was just too much.”

Jones said that People of Vision and the protests at school are not necessarily looking to change world. Their hope is to make a change in students, who can then speak out against injustices in their community.

“The changes that I want would be to people’s mindset. Not so much that we have 300 kids that say, ‘Alright, we’re going to stand up for this and we’re going to walk out of class.’ I want kids to say, ‘Let me reevaluate what I’m thinking everyday- I’m not going to make that racist joke, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t have certain privileges,’” said Jones.

Demands made by notable Ferguson-based protest groups have been to require body cameras for police and improved diversity training for police officers. Whether or not these demands are met, a movement is taking place in America.

“The reality is that we are at a pivotal point: one day, we will talk about Ferguson in much the same way they talk about Selma and the bus boycotts,” said Fleming, “It’s requiring people to ask for change.”

 

By Ryan Lutker, Sports Editor