University News
Solidarity March and Teach Out at WIU Dec. 12
December 9, 2014
MACOMB, IL -- Western Illinois University's Expanding Cultural Diversity Project (ECDP), the Center for the Study of Masculinities and Men's Development (CSMMD) and the Western Organization for Women (WOW) will host a solidarity march and rally, "WIU Race 4 Justice: Black Lives Matter," beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12 in the southwest corner of Q-Lot.
According to James La Prad, director of the ECDP and associate professor of educational and interdisciplinary studies and educational leadership, the peaceful demonstration will allow WIU students, faculty and staff, as well as Macomb community members, to show solidarity for racial justice.
"We must stand up and proclaim that all lives matter and we must join together to demand racial justice," La Prad said. "As members of an educational community, we need to discuss the critical reality that every 28 hours an unarmed black person is killed in this country. The systematic racial and other forms of oppression have been woven into the fabric of our culture since the beginning of our democracy. And we feel fortunate to live in a country where we can raise issues of discrimination and oppression in order to reduce the space between what our democratic contract says and how it is enacted."
Participants will march from Q-Lot to Sherman Hall, completing the march with a rally at the University Union Plaza, directly north of the Union.
For more information, contact La Prad at (309) 298-1436 or at JG-LaPrad@wiu.edu. Follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wiublacklivesmatter and on Twitter at #WIUrace4justice and #wiu4blacklives.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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