Hundreds of university and high school students staged a “die-in” in Harvard Square, Massachusetts in memory of slain black teenager Michael Brown. (Photo: Kyleaspencer/ Instagram)
At 1:01 PM on Monday afternoon thousands of individuals—a large portion of whom are college and high school students—stopped what they were doing. In acts of remembranceof slain black teenager Michael Brown, people across the country staged die-ins, demonstrations, and fell quiet for four and a half minutes—a protest which they say is “only the beginning.”
In New York City, an estimated 400 protesters stood in Union Square and beat their chests with their hands, mimicking Michael Brown’s heart beating. More than 500 Harvard University and local high school students gathered in Harvard Square where students laid in the streets in a “die-in” in solidarity with Brown and other innocent people killed by police. Outside of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton station, protesters drew chalk bodies on the sidewalk, and in Washington D.C. people convened outside the Department of Justice.
Other protests were held on college campuses across the country, including: Brandeis, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Colorado at Boulder; Texas A&M; Stanford University; Yale University; Jackson State University in Mississippi; and the University of Missouri in St. Louis—just miles away from Ferguson, the community in which Brown lived and was killed.
Images from the demonstrations were shared widely online under the hashtag#HandsUpWalkOut.
Organized by the group Ferguson Action, the day of action is among other ongoing demonstrations protesting the grand jury’s decision not to indict St. Louis police officer Darren Wilson, who shot the unarmed teen.
“This protest is only the beginning,” Boston Latin high school senior Sydney Fisher told the crowd in Harvard Square. “I am only asking for you help in continuing the conversation of race in America…as youth, we need to step forward and take responsibility for the future of America.”