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NAACP holds march, discussion on Ferguson decision

December 4, 2014
<p>Interdisciplinary studies junior Alexandria Vaughn, left, and apparel and textile design sophomore Mia Elzy, right, hold signs as they protest Dec. 03, 2014, near Conrad Hall. The NAACP held a silent march from Conrad Hall to Wilson Hall in protest of Mike Brown's death and its trial. Aerika Williams/The State News </p>

Interdisciplinary studies junior Alexandria Vaughn, left, and apparel and textile design sophomore Mia Elzy, right, hold signs as they protest Dec. 03, 2014, near Conrad Hall. The NAACP held a silent march from Conrad Hall to Wilson Hall in protest of Mike Brown's death and its trial. Aerika Williams/The State News

On Wednesday, four MSU professors discussed with community members the Ferguson incidents and what has happened throughout the past weeks in Missouri and around the nation.

The panel discussion was held at the end of a silent march organized by the MSU chapter of the NAACP. More than 50 students and community members walked through campus, some of them with carrying signs and with their hands up.

“Many cities are becoming more segregated than they were in the 1890s,” economics and international relations professor Lisa Cook said.

Cook explained segregation is stilled prevalent in the United States and is one of the reasons why all the disturbances in Ferguson happened.

“Segregation allows to these other things to happen,” Cook said. “When people are divided from one another they don’t have the social networks and you can’t necessarily see your neighbor.”

Former adjunct professor Haris Sorovigas said the riots that have happened around the country after the no-indictment decision made by a grand jury in Ferguson are disturbing.

“I’m very disturbed with the way they were trying to accomplish something as society,” Sorovigas said. “We are using violence to accomplish peace ... to stop discrimination, police brutality — I think this is the wrong way to do it.”

The panel became heated after Sorovigas asked the audience to trust the judicial system and to not fight the police.

“To me (Michael Brown) had choices. He had the choice to stop since the beginning (or) to fight the police,” Sorovigas said. “Although you might think (the judicial process) was questionable, we have to trust the system.”

Human development and family studies junior Devyn Reed said the protests happening around the country are helping to start a conversation about racial bias in the system.

“I’m not sure the Mike Brown case will ever die,” Reed said. “Hopefully people will still pay attention to it and hopefully he teaches a lesson as our story progress.”

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