BSA Speaks out against the Deaths of Keith Lamont Scott and Terence Crutcher
All students are encouraged to wear black today to express their support
Last week, two unarmed black men were shot and killed by police. Friday evening, September 16, Terrence Crutcher was fatally shot by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The video footage shows Crutcher, with his hands in the air backing away from the police. After being stunned, he was shot, and left to die as police made no attempt to resuscitate him. Tuesday, September 20, in Charlotte, North Carolina Keith Lamont Scott was murdered by police while getting out of his car.
After seeing the video footage, Scott’s family says he was both unarmed as well as disabled. Police in Charlotte claim they have video evidence Scott was armed, but after reviewing the video Charlotte Mecklenburg – Police Chieff Kerr Putney says the footage he reviewed does not provide “definite visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun.”
While a verdict is still waiting to be reached concerning Scott’s case, Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Officer Betty Shelby has been charged with felony manslaughter in the first degree. Warrants for her arrest have already been issued, and arrangements have been made for her surrender.
With the fatal shootings to black Americans by police in 2016 alone, the black community is getting more and more outraged. All across the country, black people are protesting for their rights as citizens and against the injustice. Movements such as Black Lives Matter are generating more and more fervor and athletes such as Colin Kaepernick are kneeling in protest to the state of this country.
UVa is experiencing it’s own issues. On September 2 of this year racial slurs, including the n-word, were written across a first- year dorm. While first- year students had all received an email regarding the matter, and the importance of racial diversity and sensitivity to others, the University did not send an email regarding the matter to the entire student body.
While it doesn’t seem the University is attempting to cover up what happened, it doesn’t seem that it is a very pressing matter either. In light of all the events of 2016 alone, things like this cannot afford to get ignored, or only generated to a small percentage of the student body.
Today, UVa’s Black Student Alliance (BSA) and several other colleges across the nation are participating in a National Blackout Day to speak out against the recent shooting of Crutcher, Scott, and the countless others of 2016 alone that have been murdered unjustly due to police brutality. All students are encouraged to wear all black to express their support.
UVa’s BSA is also staging a die-in around four o’clock this afternoon in front of Old Cabell Hall in order to symbolize all the black people that have been murdered by police and to reaffirm that Black Lives Matter.