Black Lives Matter takes a stand in the aftermath of Terrence Crutcher’s death

VCU students and Richmond-based activists responded to the police-shooting of another unarmed black man by organizing a protest on Tuesday evening on the Monroe Park Campus.

As videos of last Friday’s shooting of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Terrence Crutcher circulated in mass and led to protests nationwide, VCU students met in Monroe Park and took part in an hour-long march ending at Cabell Library with more than 50 people.

The intent, according to some speakers at the rally was to, “acknowledge Black humanity and express [our] frustrations with a system that doesn’t value us.”

Jafar Cooper, a junior at VCU and who uses  gender neutral they/their pronouns, expressed frustrations with the crowd.

“There (isn’t)  enough action being taken to combat the shooting deaths of unarmed black Americans,” Cooper said. “This is why we’re out here.”

Cooper also stressed how everyday interactions are “the foundation for these big tragedies.”

“People have a responsibility to use their privilege to talk about racism with their friends,” Cooper said. “This violence is real, so why aren’t they talking about it?”

The organizers emphasized intersectionality by acknowledging and embracing various identities of people who are impacted by police brutality.

“Regardless if I agree with the lifestyle or not, that doesn’t mean (they) aren’t human,” said Trayvon Fulton, a member Hope RVA, a grassroots activism network based in Richmond.

“So if you’re  killed unjustly, whether you’re gay, queer, whatever and someone gets put on paid administrative leave? I mean, wrong is wrong.”

Junior Reyna Smith led the group in chanting, “Black Lives Matter – No asterisks.”

Smith said for her “no asterisks” represents the inclusive nature with which she approaches activism.

“I’m here for all black lives. Gay black lives, trans black lives, queer black lives – every single black life I’m here for it,” Smith said.

Smith also expressed her frustrations with sexism while doing activist work and said she hopes the rally will help raise awareness of how black women are affected by police brutality.

For others, Black Lives Matter still carries a social stigma and doesn’t resonate as a compelling message, so much as an inflammatory one.

A sophomore who attends VCU and  asked to remain anonymous expressed they felt excluded from the movement.

“For me, it’s a social media trend where people don’t do anything but occasionally show interest,” the student said. “Talking about these things with protests is intimidating for others and divides people because it  fails to include people in the goal of making everyone equal. What happens to the protests in a week, or month or two months?”

Despite some discontent with how students chose to address the issue of  police brutality, Aaron Brown, a VCUarts senior and rally organizer, felt Tuesday’s protest was a success.

“I feel exhausted in so many ways , but I still come back out here and it was definitely a successful rally,” Brown said.

Siona Peterous
Siona is a senior majoring in political science with a concentration in international relations and double minor in media studies and Arabic and Middle Eastern studies. She is heavily influenced by her family’s immigrant background and often writes about the intersection of politics with identity. Siona is an advocate for grassroots activism and political movements, and her dream job involves multimedia-based investigative journalism. She has a plethora of life goals, but currently she’s only focusing on two: learn as many languages as possible and perfect her Instagram aesthetic. peterous@commonwealthtimes.org