Black Lives Matter protestors take over UW meeting on microagressions
Apr 6, 2016, 10:15 AM | Updated: 10:49 am
Ron Upshaw argues that people nit-picking situations are missing a much bigger point. (AP)
(AP)
It was supposed to be a discussion on race, equity and microaggressions at the University of Washington, but the conversation changed when a group of more than 200 Black Lives Matter protesters took over on Tuesday night.
The Seattle Times reports that the protestor takeover was greeted and cheered by attendees of the meeting, which was aimed at discussing and understand the issue of microaggressions — small, even unintentional forms of discrimination, racism and oppression.
Related: Fairly non-controversial place names in Washington
Black Lives Matter organizer Palca Shibale told The Daily that the event was more of a rally than a protest.
“How long do we have to stay in a suspended state of oppression until this university does something instead of just talking about it?” Shibale told the crowd, as reported in The Daily.
Black Lives Matter protesters announced in advance through Facebook that they would take over the meeting. They argued the university has not taken initiative and has been slow to make progress on the issues of race. The Seattle Times reports that protestors made several demands that were cheered by the crowd.
Those demands include:
• New community policing model to address UW police behavior
• Increased recruiting of students of color
• Recognize that UW is located on federally unrecognized ancestral land of the Duwamish people
• Renaming two streets on the basis that they are named after men who took part in an indigenous genocide
The two street names are Stevens Way and Whitman Court. Isaac Stevens was governor of the Washington territory in the 1850s and is credited with forcing treaties on many tribes. Marcus Whitman was a missionary in the 1800s and the students argued he was responsible for indigenous genocide.
