A group of more than 75 people of all races comprised mostly of students stood shoulder to shoulder in non-violent protest outside of multiple entrances of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center shortly before Friday night’s Florida basketball game.
The student organizations UF Dream Defenders and UF Students for a Democratic Society hosted the event, dubbed the #committojusticeUF protest.
“It’s non-violence, we ain’t out here hurting nobody, just getting our voices heard,” Dream Defenders member Nemo Nash said to the Alligator.
An hour before the game began, the group of protesters lay on the ground outside of Gate 1, chanting “if we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace,” before standing to block the gate. Fans were able to pass directly through the group untouched or go around the line to enter the stadium through gate one. O’Connell Center staff members advised fans to enter at Gate 4 and yard signs pointing in that direction with the words “alternate entry” were posted outside the arena.
Thirty minutes later, the group was at Gate 3, the student entrance to the arena. Students also entered the gate through the line of people untouched or went around to the end of it to scan UF IDs as usual and head to their seats.
It was the third and final gate they symbolically blocked outside of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center before the game, making their voices heard with chants and songs that featured a twist to an old UF favorite “We Are The Boys Of Old Florida,” their version went “we are the black lives of Florida,” and included the words “If the skin is the fairest the laws are the squarest.”
Most of those involved held various signs including ones that read “black lives matter,” “neutrality sides with the oppressor,” and "the system is guilty," an indictment of the United States criminal justice system and how it deals with African-Americans. They mainly chanted three things: “no justice, no peace,” “black lives matter,” and “they only care about us when we are in jerseys.”
On Thursday, the group posted a letter on the protest’s Facebook event page addressed to outgoing UF President Bernie Machen. In the letter, designed to convey “angst and dismay” concerning the two current boilerplate race relation situations in the country, they also demanded a response from the head of their university.
“Within 48 hours we expect a public statement from the president of UF condemning both the actions of the police and the failure of our government to hold them accountable for the race-motivated murders of black people in this country.”
Through a spokeswoman, Machen responded Friday evening.
“The events in Ferguson and New York have raised critically important issues about racism in America,” the spokeswoman said. “It is our mission as a university to support freedom of expression. We are an open and inclusive campus and we welcome the civil and peaceful discussion of issues that are important to all of us.”
Inside the arena, Florida’s basketball players refrained from any gestures in support of the protest on their uniforms, something other athletes across the country have done this week. Per Nash, the protestors had no plans of entering the game as a group, but rumors swirled around the O’Connell center that the group would in fact enter and attempt to rush the court, but that did not occur.
As game time approached, protesters turned to face the arena, singing the words “Which side you are you on friends, which side are you on? Justice for Mike Brown is justice for us all,” into the open doors as the lights dimmed for player introductions.
Before they left the group circled up, hugging one another.
“We have nothing to lose but our chains,” one member yelled.
There was a slightly increased police presence outside gate three, something the protesters were proud about, their mission of drawing attention to their cause fulfilled. No detractors antagonized the group and police stood on the inside of the arena surveying the scene.
“This is only the beginning,” Nash told the alligator as the protest came to a close.
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Full text of letter to UF president Bernie Machen, posted on the #committojusticeUF Protest Facebook event page:
“To the President of The University of Florida,
As students of the most prestigious public university in this nation, we write to you today to express our angst and dismay about the recent tragedies in Ferguson and NYC and ongoing around the country. We recognize that as a nation we are still haunted by the legacy of racial policing and that, in fact, the systematic dehumanization of black and brown lives has never ceased. It is becoming more evident day after day that we are not protected; instead, we are profiled, we are murdered, and our bodies are put on trial as these men, these police who are killing us are not being held accountable. We as students of color condemn this injustice, and we summon the faculty and administration to do the same.
The circumstances of black and brown people in this nation are not enviable. Why would they be when every 28 hours somewhere in the United States a black or brown person is killed—every 28 hours, week after week, year after year? This is not, as the media would have you believe, because black and brown men are killing each other. It is because these men are being targeted. They are constantly being watched and tracked in the neighborhoods they live in by a system that has never viewed them as capable of governing themselves nor given them the opportunity to do so. In a society that deems itself to be “post-racial,” it would seem that situations like these wouldn’t be prevalent.
As students, we aspire to greatness at every level. We seek to cultivate ourselves as leaders and visionaries. We seek to rise to this university’s aspirations to be the best in higher education. And because we hold ourselves to these standards we also hold our university to certain responsibilities, among them to provide an education that allows for personal growth, to challenge us to pay attention and urge us to recognize the humanity not just in an implicitly white America but indeed in the black and brown people who have been persecuted from birth.
We compel you to be the institution that changes the national narrative and demonstrates that this issue deserves an honest and frank perspective, not one skewed by bias. Students want to believe UF is indeed an all-inclusive university that cares about the welfare and flourishing of all of its students.
Right now we are waiting to hear that our university believes that black lives matter here and now. We have yet to see any response from our school community, and this leads us to feel devalued, isolated, and moreover, ignored.
Right now, we are in a state of shock. We can’t breathe. We want action.
This is what we demand:
Within 48 hours we expect a public statement from the president of UF condemning both the actions of the police and the failure of our government to hold them accountable for the race-motivated murders of black people in this country.
A response of non-compliance, failure or refusal to act on the part of the president on behalf of the university, will be a green light for further economically targeted, on-campus, public action to take place. If you do not hear us now, you will hear from us, and there will be no more business as usual.
We look forward to your response,
Love,
The Family”
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
A protester outside the Stephen C. O’Connell center holds a sign with a statement implying the University of Florida is only concerned with African-Americans that participate in athletics at the school.
