Pulse of a Divided Nation

Story posted December 8, 2014 in Best of CommMedia by Akash Ghai.


"I love being black. I love who I am and I wouldn’t change any of my experiences. The only thing I would change is, if I ended up in America, the terms under which I was brought here.”
~ Dr. Anyabwile Love

 

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A protester holds a signboard during a protest for black victims on 125th and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem.
Photo by Akash Ghai

Dr. Anyabwile Love is an African-American post-doctoral teaching fellow with the Africana Research Center at Penn State. He has been instrumental in supporting black student groups in organizing the recent wave of protests across campus. These silent protests, or ‘die-in’ demonstrations, reflect a much larger movement demanding justice and equality for members of the black community in the United States.

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The Penn State African-American community’s plea for justice and equality has met resistance and ridicule from white students on campus. The backlash on social platforms has revealed contempt and apathy towards this movement from a surprisingly large number of white individuals.  

Dr. Love is working to provide an opportunity to better understand the intentions and opinion of black student protestors at Penn State and how it relates to the larger movement across the country.

Ferguson Grand Jury Verdict

 

Dr. Love says the grand jury did not reach a just decision in the Ferguson case.