MU students, faculty and staff gathered in front of Elliott Hall to participate in the Black Lives Matter Unity March presented by the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Council.
The Spirit and Pride of Pennsylvania marching band, directed by Dr. Adam Brennan, played the MU fight song, “Red and Black” and “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” by Stevie Wonder, while, students collected poster paper and markers from Diversity the Inclusion Council staff and made protest signs to carry while marching. Some slogans included, “I will never understand, but I stand,” “If you don’t stand for something, then you will fall for anything” and “The system isn’t broken, it was built this way.”
Provost John Ulrich was the first principal speaker, relaying the words of President Charles Patterson, who was self-quarantined during the event due to campus regulations. “Racism, combined with pandemic challenges, create a multiplying effect,” Provost Ulrich read. “So now more than ever, it has come upon each of us to speak up, and speak out against racism and racial inequality. Educate yourself about oppression. Call out biased language or behavior. Call out friends and family members who say racist things.”
SGA Vice President Zhamya Hampton spoke second, “As a black woman, student, leader, and mentor, I rise to bring the whole student body and community together as we address some of the very rooted problems in our community...I would like to ask for y’all to take a second and put your right hand on your heart. You feel that? We all have one but some of us seem to be hurting. We need to do our part as leaders and learners to step out and support, question, educate, and advocate for something that we all have yet some seem to forget.”
Black Student Union Vice President GG Murray followed, “Why is it that the color of my skin must fail me and my people repeatedly? When will there be a time that you will look at me and see me for my beauty? When will it be when I can scream ‘I can’t breathe’ and you will fully understand me?...My name is not the name of an angry black woman. But yet I’m mad. My name is how you get to know me. My name is the name that will ring bells later in life for my accomplishments, and not by my death at the fault of someone who didn’t get the chance to know my name.”
Monae Bishop concluded the speaker lineup, “Why are we treated as problems way before we are treated as people? Somehow all of these questions have gone unanswered but yet my people are still dying. America, we just want to feel comfortable in our own country. Is this too much to ask? When routine traffic stops makes us tremble and pray that we make it back to see our families, how can you say that there is not a problem when our brothers can’t wear their hoodies on their heads in the winter because they are afraid to be gunned down for being suspicious?...The problem is our Black History Month starts off with slavery. This is a psychological mistake - better yet, a mental illness - to introduce the history of black people with them being enslaved...Before we became slaves, we were kings and queens. Why don’t we hear about this in our history books?”
Once the speakers concluded, students, faculty and staff lined up, spread out to abide by social distancing regulations and marched the planned route around and through the campus. Murray led the congregation in chants listed in the Unity March programs. “We can (do more). We will (do more).” “Black lives (matter).” “No justice (no peace).”
The route circled Elliott Hall along Highway 6, past Belknap and Retan, through campus to South Hall Mall, and around the President’s house where Dr. Patterson and First Lady Colleen Patterson waved from the front porch.
Following the event, BLM signs are posted all around campus, even in locations nowhere near the event itself, declaring: “Hate has no home here,” as well as selected quotes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King Jr.).
Dr. John Ulrich: https://youtu.be/1TW3b2REzLM
Zhamya Hampton: https://youtu.be/Z2uMcN94JSM
GG Murray: https://youtu.be/-ZA8oHnfaT0
Monae Bishop: https://youtu.be/gvnD5LDpZaw