Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: News

Pontiac senior Ashley N. Smith speaks to students Tuesday evening after marching to Warriner Hall rallying for diversity and justice. The march stemmed from the recent hanging of nooses in the Engineering and Technology Building on campus. The march was immediately before the sixth annual Campus Diversity Forum to further show their support for diversity, with students speaking, singing and reading poetry about diversity and racial struggles. [Click to enlarge]

From left, Flint senior Detrone Turner, Mt. Clements sophomore Alexia Harrington and Rosehill senior Tameka Gaston sing along to "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as NAACP's black national anthem, Tuesday evening after students marched to Warriner Hall rallying for diversity and justice. [Click to enlarge]

Chants of "no justice, no peace" could be heard Tuesday night as marchers walked and chanted their way through Central Michigan University's campus.

About 70 people marched from the Industrial and Engineering Technology Building to Warriner Mall, where the CMU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted a rally.

"It's to inform and educate the public about racist awareness," said Ashley N. Smith, Pontiac senior and president of the CMU chapter of the NAACP.

University President Michael Rao spoke at the rally and "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as the black national anthem, was performed.

Rao said the four nooses found Nov. 12 in the Engineering and Technology building were an emotional assault on African-Americans, and actions will be taken.

The community must turn this frustration into positive action and CMU has and always will promote equality, understanding and respect, he said.

Milan senior Clarence Richardson, second vice president of NAACP, said the rally wasn't only about a single incident.

"I think this rally isn't just about nooses, but any current event going on in our nation," he said. "People believe this is being blown out of proportion because they don't understand how minority students feel."

Smith said CMU is not alone in its racial intimidation. If changes are to occur, they must happen collectively, she said.

Smith said she believes the incident was a racial attack and the individual who did it should be punished.

"The noose has a historic significance in U.S. history and that was usually toward African-Americans," she said.

A male student confessed to hanging the nooses Nov. 17 to police, whom have not released a name.

Central Michigan Life received an anonymous confession posted on its cm-life.com Web site about the nooses being a 'Halloween joke' a day before the person turned himself in.

Smith compared the nooses incident to the DeMarcus Graham case where suspect's identities were not kept anonymous, even though some of the accused were later acquitted in their trials.

Saginaw freshman Rose Wilson said she was happy with the turnout and was afraid the cold weather would turn people away.

"I feel the rally was successful," she said.


news@cm-life.com

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