Demonstration in solidarity with black women draws professors, students
Wiess College senior Blaque Robinson and Martel College senior Chavonte Wright organized a demonstration to support black women after an incident of a school sheriff throwing a black female student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina. About 80 students attended the demonstration, which also featured music and spoken word.
Rice University students held a demonstration in the academic quad to show support for black females following an incident of a school sheriff throwing and dragging a black female student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina.
From noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, students held signs bearing statements such as “Black female lives matter,” and black women linked arms in front of Willy’s Statue. Several students also performed spoken word, sang and wrote cards to the student who was thrown by the officer, as well as her friend, who filmed the event and has been charged with disrupting school, a misdemeanor in South Carolina. About 80 students attended, including black males and females as well as other student and professor allies.
The main organizers of the event were Martel College senior Chavonte Wright and Wiess College senior Blaque Robinson. At the close of the event, Robinson said a few words to summarize their goals.
“We will not just be angry women,” Robinson said. “We will not just be your booty-popping party girl. We will not just be the girl you have sex with to see what black ass is like. We are black women and we are human.”
Robinson said she wanted students in attendance to not walk away having just supported black women for the day but to continue to recognize black women.
“Thank the black women who cook your food and clean your room,” Robinson said. “Don’t just walk by like they don’t exist. Smile and say hello. Thank the black women administrators and staff who work behind the scenes to make sure your Rice experience is all that it can be.”
According to Director of Multicultural Affairs Catherine Clack, the Office of Multicultural Affairs provided the supplies for posters and cards but was not involved in organizing the event itself, which was part of Wright and Robinson’s Activism Initiative under the OMA.
“This is a beautiful event [and] a worthy event,” Clack said. “I’m tremendously proud of Rice University for responding in the way that it has today because this issue affects all of us. We need to all be aware and all care about what’s going on.”
Wright said she hoped the demonstration would not be seen as a response to an isolated case of police brutality.
“The purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement is to call attention to underlying issues in this country that are produced by racism, capitalism and patriarchy, and how those come to victimize black people more than [they do] any other demographic,” Wright said.
Videos of the incident at Spring Valley High School have gone viral since they were first released Oct. 26. According to reports, after the student refused the teacher’s request to leave the classroom, a white sheriff’s deputy who served as a coach on the football team, was called in. The officer wrapped his arm around the student’s neck, flipped her out of her seat and dragged her across the floor. The officer has since been fired with no charges; the charges against the two students have not been dropped. On Friday, approximately 100 students at the school staged a walkout in support of the officer.
More from The Rice Thresher
Rice Students for Justice in Palestine declares ‘liberated zone’ on campus
As student protests erupt across the country, Rice Students for Justice in Palestine launched a “liberated zone” on Rice campus, announced a two-day series of events and started construction on an “apartheid wall.”
Jeremy Zucker headlines second-ever Moody X-Fest
Jeremy Zucker headlined Rice’s second annual Moody X-Fest in Founder’s Court on April 19. In advance of Zucker’s set, student groups like Basmati Beats, Rice Philharmonic and BASYK performed. The festival also offered complimentary merchandise and food from Dripped Birra, Cane’s and Oh my Gogi.
Jones wins men’s and women’s Beer Bike races, GSA snags alumni
Jones College won both the women’s and men’s Beer Bike 2024 races, while the Graduate Student Association claimed the alumni team win. Hanszen College bike teams were the runner-up in the alumni and men’s races, while Brown College was the runner-up in the women’s race. Martel and McMurtry Colleges did not bike in the alumni race, according to the Rice Program Council’s final report, and the GSA was disqualified from the men’s race for accidentally sending out two bikers simultaneously.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.