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More than 200 protesters walked in a silent peaceful protest Sunday afternoon to raise awareness about police brutality and the events going on in Ferguson, Missouri.
Nathaniel Thomas, president of Ethnic Theatre Alliance, organized the protest along with the help of others in ETA.
“Because we’re all American citizens and we all live here, it’s important to stay up with all of these events,” Thomas said. “Indiana has to wake up to what’s going on in the world. Muncie has to wake up to what’s going on in the world.”
Before the march started, members of ETA and others spoke on the steps on Ball Gymnasium.
One of the speakers was Keith Overall, a sophomore acting major from Ferguson.
“Today we are here to acknowledge and join protests happening all over the country for change,” Overall said in his speech. “It’s not only for Missouri, but for all the other occurrences that continue to go unnoticed.”
After the speeches, five white members of ETA wearing white tank tops stood on the steps of Ball Gymnasium facing five black members of ETA wearing hoodies. As the names, ages and hometowns of people who have died at the hands of police were read off, one by one, the members in hoodies put their hands up as the members in white shot them down.
The marchers then walked around the Quad to start their silent peaceful protest.
Protestors held posters with sayings like “You don’t have to be black to stand up with your neighbors and say that things are not okay” and “My hands were up” as they marched along McKinley Avenue, toward Frog Baby.
Amelia Windom, a senior acting major and member of ETA, said police brutality needs to end.
“I understand that they need to do their job and protect people, but there are other ways,” she said. “They need to be trained differently and look through the eyes of the law, since they are the ones holding up the law.”
She said she hopes this march shows people that this isn’t just a one-time thing.
“This has been happening for dozens of years and we need to come together to protect black men and women,” she said. “Just because someone is poor and uneducated doesn’t mean they deserve to be shot.”
Windom said the most important part was seeing all the people of different races and genders come to join ETA in the protest.
“If you want to change something, you have to come together for a cause,” she said.
Along with the Ball State chapter of ETA, the Wright State University chapter was there. Ball State ETA is their mother chapter.Stephen Kell, the treasurer of the Wright State University chapter, said he came to show support for all the injustices going on in the United States.
“Since I am a white man, I want other people to realize that you don’t have to be black to fight against the injustices,” he said. “Having all these people come together and talk about the issue as a conversation is the only way something like this is going to be solved.”
Evan Duff, a sophomore musical theater major and member of ETA, said he marched for the end of unarmed violence against people.
“We’re forgetting that people are all humans,” he said. “We all need to be viewing each other as human beings and stay towards peace instead of violence.”
He said this protest is a reminder of who he is, not only as a black male, but also as a person and as a part of the community.
Hannah Wedig, a Burris Academy student, watched the protest at the Scramble Light. She said she thought it was very brave,and she wished she could join.
“I hope people pay attention to it and take it to heart,” Wedig said. “It’s nice to see all these people gathering together for this.”
After the protest was over, Thomas said he was happy with the turnout.
“I am so pleased, happy, excited, praiseful,” he said. “I cannot even express how happy I am. It’s something you dream about and this is more than I was expecting. If anyone came after my board, I was successful. If I got one person or 200 people, those people will tell other people and the word will keep spreading.”
He said for people participating in this, they got to be a part of something that doesn’t happen a lot.
“The Ball State community was able to accept it for what we are, and we saw lots of people with their hands up,” Thomas said. “Because we’re all American citizens and although we all live here, it’s important to stay up with it with peaceful protests, so students who don’t know can go and research it and learn what’s going on.”
He said the diverse amount of people at the protest showed him that Ball State was coming closer to becoming a truly diverse school.
“Today,” he said, “we popped Ball State’s bubble.”
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