Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.

Heidenescher: ‘No justice, no peace, no racist police’

Joe Heidenescher, Associate Community Editor

Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.


Email This Story






image_pdfimage_print

From all around the intersection, I could hear people shouting and car horns honking. They were aggressively chanting, “Black lives matter, black lives matter!” I was scared to join in, I mean, I’m not black but my life matters, too. This was my first protest; I didn’t have any signs or megaphones. I was just there, and I came to stand in solidarity, but I was shyly nervous to jump into the crowd and start chanting.

I stood on the grass next to the protesters for a little while and thought, “I came here for a reason, and I better do something.” So I put my hands up and walked towards the street. A group began to march across at the intersection, and I followed with my hands up. A person in a car honked at me, and waved. It was at that moment I felt reassured about being there.

Together we began shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” Even without a sign, my hand up position was a symbol enough. And I could tell we were getting through to people. Our messages were sinking into every vehicle that pittered past. Many people honked, some rolled down their window and cheered and a few took pictures.

At that moment I felt as if the message of the protest wasn’t just an idea that a few of us held, but it felt like large numbers of people supported the cause. Our cause wasn’t just about isolated cases of police murdering unarmed black men, it was about a simple and undeniable right that we have been promised: the right of a trial, the right to have justice.

Believe it or not, police are not judges, lawyers, prosecutors or members of a jury. They do not get to decide whether a person gets to live or die. Their duty is to stop wrong-doers within the limits of reasonable force. Some may argue that the police used reasonable lethal force when taking Mike Brown, Eric Garner or Tamir Rice into custody. The problem is that that force took away the right for any of these people to go to trial. They were denied the right to be judged by their peers in a court of law.

The same police officers that were guilty of killing these unarmed black men did not have to go to trial. It wasn’t because their rights were denied, it was because their uniforms privileged them and liberated them from the threat of a real jury. This is not justice either.

This is exactly why we chanted “No justice, no peace. No racist police.” And as we were marching down Secor Road, chanting at the passing cars, I could feel how important it was to stand against injustice. This wasn’t a black and white issue. This was a human issue. People of all sorts joined our march, young and old, black and white, Christian and atheist, liberal and conservative, none of these things mattered. We could only see the truth that there are literally people dying, children dying, at the hands of the police, our protectors. What was the crime? It’s just not fair. As a group of Americans, we are demanding some sort of justice for our citizens.

As I began to imagine how unfair this was, I began to feel emotionally overwhelmed. People were chanting around me and I started to cry. I dropped my hands for a moment and stepped off the sidewalk. I had goose bumps. The people of Toledo were uniting together to speak out against the heavy injustice they have seen. It was beautiful, the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever witnessed.

A trucker who drove past snapped me back into it. He pointed a finger gun at us and yelled out his window, “Get a job.” That is when I lost it; I was infuriated, enraged. I threw my hands up and began yelling with a ferocious volume. My blood boiled and the cold Toledo afternoon melted away. I screamed at passing cars, “Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!” Commuters, workers, shoppers, children, adults, they all would pass and acknowledge our uproar. They are just as unhappy as we are.

The protest opened my eyes to the magnitude of the problem. It has crossed all divisions of race, gender and age. As humans, we know this is wrong, and we will not stop fighting for what is right. One might think that this issue would be moot in a post-1963 America, but the race issue has not disappeared. Racism will never disappear, but as Americans we have to stand up when our dexterous sense of justice begins to disappear.

Joe Heidenescher is a second-year majoring in English, and is the associate community editor at The Independent Collegian.

Print Friendly

Leave a Comment

Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.
Heidenescher: ‘No justice, no peace, no racist police’