By Evan Sandel
The Scene staff
Students, faculty and staff on St. Louis Community College campuses have held several events to support the Ferguson protestors and promote peaceful activism, including listening circles, a clothing drive, a quilt and T-shirt exhibit and a day spent cleaning up after looters.
But activism by Meramec Sociology Club has taken on a louder, more aggressive tone. On Oct. 13, about 100 students walked out of classes and gathered for a “teach-in” in the cafeteria.
“This walkout was just the beginning,” said Club President Suzan Dague. “We think that, especially as a primarily Caucasian campus in an area of town where there is not a whole lot of diversity, it’s important to continue the conversation.”
Dague, 28, is a general transfer student who plans to study sociology and psychology at University of Missouri-St. Louis before entering law school.
“I’ve generally participated in and also planned some protests in Ferguson,” she said. “We go up there and walk up and down the street with signs and we chant. We’re taking a stand for what we believe in.”
It’s been nearly three months since a white policeman shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson. Unrest and a search for understanding continue as the St. Louis community seeks a new racial dynamic.
Dague brought in three experienced protestors from Ferguson – Alexis Templeton, Britney Ferrell and Jamaal Spann – to help organize the teach-in at Meramec.
Participants wore T-shirts with the slogan “Black lives matter.” One sign read, “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty,” and a chant rang out loudly over a megaphone: “When I say human, y’all say rights!”
“I think it’s important for students everywhere to know what’s going on around them and to make sure that there is an opportunity for their voices to be heard,” said psychology major Savonna Ward, 21, who participated in the walkout. “I want to be on the front lines of that.”
Political science Professor Emily Neal was administering a mid-term exam in her Introduction to American Politics class when seven students left. Her reaction was supportive and even encouraging.
“I stood up and said, ‘Hey, if this entire class wants to walk out, we’ll all walk out together,’” she said. “But I also let them know that as this was a scheduled exam day, I would stay for the allotted time if people continued working on the test.
“For those folks who did walk out, I gave them the option of coming back in the afternoon to finish up their exam, and the students who participated in the walkout did exactly that.
“I believe students have a constitutional right to protest these things,” Neal added. “I think that colleges and universities have traditionally been places where we’re allowed and encouraged to have these discussions and debates, and especially since I’m a political science professor, I felt like, ‘Who would I be to tell students that they can’t do that?’”
The walkout was documented through Twitter and retweeted by notable people including a member of the “hacktivist” group Anonymous, local rapper and activist Tef Poe and Missouri native and former CNN war correspondent Charles Jaco.
As STLCC students, faculty and staff continue to cope with the issues raised in Ferguson, Neal offers a reminder that social activism should be inclusive rather than exclusive and ultimately effects the entire community.
“We’re talking about issues that primarily affect the black community, but I think engaged people of all races also feel a responsibility to make a stand in this, to say, ‘We care about these communities, we live in these communities and everything that happens in the region affects us all,’” she said.