The "Say Their Names" Project
On Sept. 15 the “Say Their Names Project” was put on by our very own Black Student Union (BSU) and Pi Theta chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. This project allowed participants to raise awareness for those whose lives were taken unjustly. In this first segment, there was audio played for those in attendance which depicted the aftermath of the 2016 tragedy involving Philando Castile. After a moment of silence, Captain Aaron Dobbs and Marty Sawyer came out and explained different routines that should correctly be followed by the police in their department and how they handle situations that don’t follow their procedure.
This event revolved around the murder of Philando Castile which took place on July 6 in Saint Paul, MN. In this incident, Castile was pulled over by Jeronimo Yanez due to suspecting him of being involved in a burglary that took place a couple of days prior. After being told to obtain his license and registration, he informed the police officer that he had a firearm in the vehicle. Now knowing this information, Yanez began to assume the worst and after going back and forth with Castile he shot into the car seven times, hitting him five times. Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm but was later acquitted of all charges. The family of Castile, including his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, was given almost $4 million at the end of a wrongful death lawsuit.
After this event, I had the privilege of speaking with Cyimone “CiCi” Glover of Sigma Gamma Rho and Kandice Thompson of the Black Student Union and asked a couple of questions.
There were about 50 students that attended this event. When asked about how those who did turn out for the event made an impact Thompson responded,
“We did have a lot of African American students show up but what surprised me was that white students came as well. They made a large impact because they wanted to learn more about the topic and not just because it was an ICE event.”
This project was put together by two groups with the intention of informing the student body,
“I wanted to partner with the Black Student Union because this campus needed to talk about topics that are not talked about anymore, that have literally been forgotten or even when they were talked about, weren’t talked about in depth. They were just talked about on the surface or kind of put on the side or just talked about to make African Americans happy.” -Cici Glover
“It’s up from here!” Is the current saying associated with the Say Their Names Project because of how informational it is. Every month for the rest of the academic year there will be an ICE event covering an African American whose life was taken by police brutality. The second project will take place on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in Penland106.
This image shows the students involved in making the event happen. Cici Glover in white. Kandice Thompson right above.
