After the fatal shooting of Michael Brown this month, campus and community leaders are shedding light on and raising awareness about the events that followed in Ferguson, Missouri.
Journa Cobite, president of the NAACP’s UF chapter, said she hopes campus minority groups will continue to collaborate.
“I want us to join together to make a broader impact on the community,” said Cobite, a 21-year-old sociology senior.
Cobite said the campus’ NAACP chapter hosted a forum last week where locals were invited to voice their opinions and speak out on how they would address similar situations in the community.
The group later posed for a “hands up, don’t shoot” photo to honor Brown, the 18-year-old who was killed after being shot at least six times by 28-year-old Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.
Following his death, Brown’s body remained on the street for four hours. Two days later, the FBI opened a civil rights investigation regarding the fatal shooting.
Ferguson Police did not identify Wilson as Brown’s shooter for nearly a week, fueling rallies and riots in the St. Louis suburb.
Supporters of the campus NAACP event included UF’s Black Student Union and the campus chapter of Dream Defenders, a national human rights organization.
Shrisa Reid-Renaud, BSU president and 21-year-old telecommunication senior, said the organization will continue to inform students and the public about their rights.
“As a black leader on this campus, my approach is to be proactive,” she said, noting the organization will continue working with NAACP and other campus minority groups.
As of now, a series of meetings are being held between NAACP and minority organizations to figure out their next move. Reid-Renaud said they wish to avoid unorganized rallies and want to move forward together.
“We want to remain unified at this time, not separated,” Cobite said.
Gainesville Police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said the department cannot comment on the events in Ferguson but said GPD regularly patrols protests and understands everyone has the right to speak their minds. He said there was a rally outside of the GPD building last week concerning Brown.
“We are here to ensure the safety of anyone who chooses to speak their mind,” he said. “We also have a deep-rooted relationship with our community, and we are not going to break that trust because we worked very hard for it, and it is difficult to get back.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 8/27/2014 under the headline "Campus organizations react to Ferguson police shootings "]
FERGUSON - Tia Ma, a local massage therapistm and Herbert Polite Jr., hold signs during "National Moment of Silence: Gainesville," a vigil and moment of silence held to pay respect to the victims of police shootings and brutality in front of the Gainesville Police Department on August 14.
