Peaceful Protest
A group of UMD students stood silently outside the bookstore to raise awareness of the vandalism in the Multicultural center and to show solidarity among different races.
“You would be surprised how many people don’t care,� said sophomore Hana Dinku. “It scares the hell out of me to think that someone would take the time to tell me that I’m not welcome here.�
The idea of the demonstration started with a simple question.
“What are we going to do?� said senior David Comer.
Comer said he expected 15 to 20 people dressed all in black to participate in the day long demonstration.
Dinku said that wearing all black was so the students can stick out and set the tone for the day.
“Obviously this is a very sad day, this is a scary day,� said Dinku.
Negassa Ayana a junior said that he was at the demonstration to fight against hate crimes.
“People need to be aware of hate crimes and fight against them together,� said Ayana.
The students said that they were looking forward to the feedback from the people walking past the bookstore.
Charlie Pittman a freshman at the demonstration said that he was getting mostly positive feedback but not a lot of questions.
Pittman said he has seen a few racial problems at UMD but because he is white he does not see it as often as a person of color.
“I want to show support. A lot of these guys are my friends,� said Pittman. “I’ve seen a few racial problems but what happened to the murals is a big thing.�