March for Justice calls attention to deaths as result of inequities

The Black Student Alliance and the National Pan-Hellenic Council have partnered to recreate the “March for Justice,” a tribute to Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis on Sunday, March 9 at 10 a.m.

Unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer because he appeared “suspicious.” Jordan Davis, also a teen, was fatally shot after refusing to lower the volume of his music. The world has found the verdicts of the boys’ shooters unjust, according to thegrio.com.

“When there is injustice there has to be a rise of action,” said junior Deondrick Orr. “I feel like this is the right time to have a march to reflect and let people know that they are not alone in this fight.”

This is the second year BSA and NPHC will hold the march, said BSA liaison Alonzo Dukes.

“It is something we had started last year stemming from Trayvon Martin,” Dukes said. “It was an idea we had in BSA where we kind of wanted to bring awareness to tragedies like that (Trayvon Martin case).”

BSA has many reasons for holding the march in the spring, Dukes said.

“We want to bring awareness and attention to it, but there is just so much going on in the fall that it would be overshadowed,” Dukes said. “In the spring it is a bit more steady-paced.”

BSA predicts the attendance count will be at least in the double digits.

“I would say anywhere between 75 and 100 — we hope that it is more than that, but that is what we project,” Dukes said.

Last year the march began on Court Street, Dukes said.

“After the march we had a podium and speakers set up,” Dukes said. “That was when Bishop Alexander, he is an alumni now, came and spoke on the Stand Your Ground law and Trayvon Martin.”

Dukes urges students to attend the event because injustices can happen to anyone, he said.

“I would encourage students to come by reminding them that this could be you,” Dukes said. “Your skin color and race doesn’t matter. Male or female, everybody stereotypes. I don’t think it’s a race thing, so much, but I think lately it’s been put out like it’s a race thing.”

Orr agrees these kinds of situations can happen to anyone.

“It (the march) will make students come together,” Orr said. “It’s not a black thing or a white thing, it is a justice thing. Once people come to (understand) that fact it will be a smoother world.”