Where your hoodie.

In light of the Treyvon Martin shooting, posters have been posted around campus encouraging people to wear hoodies on Thursday (tomorrow) in support. We here at the office are totally behind this initiative. We do not know who is behind the demonstration, and wish we could give due credit, but we want to encourage you all to not only wear your hoodie, but to think about why you are choosing to wear your hoodie. What does the hoodie symbolize to you on a personal level, but also what does all of us wearing them symbolize? We had a great discussion about this during our staff meeting yesterday and think this is a great opportunity for the campus to not only protest George Zimmerman's freedom, but to dialogue about the situtaion. Too often, and too easily, we insulate ourselves in our little academic bubble. People are outraged, nationally. This has been going on for over a month now and people are getting fed up. It begs the question, why not here? Why are the conversations far and few between, in some classrooms, but why do some students still not know about the issue? Is it our responsibility as a global campus to educate not only ourselves, but each other? These are all questions to contemplate. So when you wear your hoodie tomorrow, don't only ask yourself why you choose to wear it, but ask a friend why.

Voices of the People seeks to promote such dialogue. Sadly, Treyvon's voice has been silenced, but that of his family, his community, and increasingly his nation, is showing how such work is never done: how it is forever a worthy cause to speak up for injustice and talk about this event not only as a present issue, but in connection with our troubled past regrading race relations in this country. So you will be "speaking" when you wear your hoodie. Speaking for Treyvon.

Also we posted a yellow poster in the HUB near the Social Hall asking "Why did you choose to wear a hoodie today?" We encourage you all to grab a pen and write something down. Let's get the conversation flowing.