<rleton students participated in the national march and rally in Missouri against police brutality and racial profiling for the Ferguson October Weekend of Resistance.
Sam Neubauer ’17 organized the trip. Among the crowd of thousands of protesters in downtown St. Louis chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot” and calling for the arrest of Darren Wilson were Carleton alumni.
“I’m here for obvious reasons in that Mike Brown should not have died, and his killer should not get away with it,” Nick Welna ’12 said. “Beyond that, I’m also here because I think it’s really important to have a justice system that is not racist and not making the problems in our community worse.”
As a history teacher in a predominately African-American community, Welna said that the issues in Ferguson affect the students he teaches.
He also said he wanted to impress upon his students the importance of being activists for change.
Although she currently lives in Northfield, she is originally from St. Louis, Missouri. The issues in Ferguson hit home to Eby who was not able to show her support when the protesting first began.
While visiting her family for the weekend, she decided to participate in the march. “I wanted to be around people who were fighting for justice here and hope to feel more connected to the movement.”
Later that night, protesters marched from the site of the shooting to the Ferguson police station where police officers were waiting in response to the protesters.
There, another aluma Patricia Abney ’77 from Chicago, rallied her support.
With emotions and tensions high, the crowd of protesters demonstrated a peaceful protest, a contrast to events involving the tear gas and rubber bullets that have characterized the movement.
Carleton students were safe and none were among those arrested that weekend.