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More Than 500 at Southern March Against Violence

By Jerrica Skidmore
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Joshua L. Halley/Southern Digest Terrance Senegal, a Southern University senior, shouts a chant as students, faculty and staff members march in response to the Sept. 9 shooting.

The slight breeze and 80-degree temperature provided the perfect backdrop for Southern University students, administration and faculty to march throughout the heart of the Baton Rouge, La., campus chanting messages against violence and a better awareness for the university.

"I feel this march will show faculty and staff" that we "students are not just focusing on attending parties and football games," said Chassity Cristtenden, a sophomore therapeutic recreation major from Baker, La. "We are here to make change while learning."

The Sept. 20 march began on Elton C. Harrison Boulevard, in front of Seymour Gymnasium, where march participants gathered around 10:40 a.m.

By 11 a.m., approximately 200 students stepped in unison down Harrison Boulevard, behind the Southern University Law Center, past the John B. Cade Library, before ending with a rally in front of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.

"I was not aware the march was taking place today," said Darren Radcliff, a recent graduate from the College of Arts and Humanities at Southern. "But as soon as I heard the news, I came out to show my support."

Within minutes of its start, the march's crowd swelled from 200 to more than 500 students who chanted, "Stop the violence, increase the peace," to the accompanying percussion of the Southern University Marching Band, "The Human Jukebox," trailing the entourage of participants.

The march was prompted by a shooting incident off-campus during the university's first home football game against Mississippi Valley State on Sept. 9, which led to the death of 59-year-old Freddie Jackson. A security officer, hired to watch a parking lot near the campus, allegedly shot Jackson during an argument over a parking space.

The university implemented new security procedures during the university's next home game, against North Carolina Central on Sept. 23.

They were to include a complete search of all purses and bags being carried into A.W. Mumford Stadium. All attendees were to pass through metal detectors before entering the stadium, and tailgating on the north side of Harding Boulevard, near the tennis courts, was to be prohibited. In addition, an area where fans formerly could purchase tickets was to be barricaded.

"This area will have barricades in place to offset individuals who are not coming to view the game but to just loiter," said Charlene Anderson, captain of the Southern University Police Department.

In addition to the Sept. 9 incident, a shooting involving a high school student and three Southern University students took place last year.

For the march, Southern students and faculty created posters reading, "Let's make change," "No more violence" and "Let's raise awareness of violence." They were accompanied by the rest of the crowd as they held up peace signs as they traveled along the march's two-mile stretch.

"I was very pleased when I saw the students participating in this march," said Erma Borskey, president of the university's faculty senate. "This march made history at Southern University and changed the students' perspective about the university."

Southern University-Baton Rouge Chancellor Edward Jackson walked in front, alongside the university's student leaders, in support of the student's concern over violence and awareness, wearing a look of proud satisfaction over the day's events.

"This is one of the best events I have seen [in which] students from our university come together and make change among themselves, the university and the community."

At the march's culminating rally, Student Government Association Vice President Deon Dorsett thanked the university's students, faculty and staff for their show of support for the march's cause.

"You have just accomplished the first step of making a difference on campus and to protect the generation behind" you, Dorsett said to the crowd gathered in the courtyard of the student union.

Shere Jackson, a senior political science major from Port Allen, La., and niece of Freddie Jackson, spoke as well, sharing with the crowd what the march meant for the memory of her slain uncle.

"This march was not just an awareness about violence but it was also a celebration of my uncle's death," she said. "I believe my uncle smiled down on [the] Southern University campus today because of this march."

"I was touched to see students coming together and actually doing something about the violence and making a difference among the university," she said.

Jerrica Skidmore, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest. Lisa East, a student at Southern University who also writes for the Southern Digest, contributed to this report.

Posted Sept. 25, 2006