No More Silence!

This past Friday, students at Howard University staged a protest to complain about various issues that plague the campus. Of the many issues brought up, some of the prevalent ones had to do with: lack of respect for students amongst the administration, aging equipment across campus (especially in the science labs), the lack or ineffectiveness of a recycling system, the lack of proper handicap accessibility, and the lack of adequate housing for many students. The overall mood on campus that day was one of impatience and agitation because most of the students felt their voices were not being heard.



Even members of 32BJ, the worker's union for Howard University staff, came out to let their voices be heard on topics that were important to them, such as HU's violation of certain union agreements. As a new student on campus, I was proud to see my fellow Bison stand up for what they believe in. The slogan of the day was definitely: United We Stand, Divided We Fall.




At one point during the protest, the crowd sang in unison to the lyrics of the Black National Anthem and swayed, clenched fists in air, as HU's own form of civil disobedience was made manifest to the members of the administration. This brought back memories of a magazine article I had read that told the story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, a pair of African American sprinters, who during the '68 Olympics in Mexico City decided to silently make known their support for the civil rights movement in America.

Another interesting fact was that during the protest, celebrity mogul Diddy, a former Howard student, found out about the protest and began tweeting about it. He even offered to come down to the campus to let his voice be heard as well. It's great that despite his social status, someone like Diddy still answers the call to support his alma mater. Hopefully our protest will reap the benefits that we so graciously wish for.

Enjoy the footage! (I was filming it on a 4 megapixel digital camera so it's a little grainy and the volume might be distorted)