GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A UW-Green Bay student organized a small, silent protest Tuesday to highlight the lives of black men being lost at the hands of unethical police officers.
“I think it’s a very prevalent issue in America right now,” says junior Christopher Thomas. “This is just one of many social changes that’s going on right now.”
Thomas says he was prompted to quickly put together this show of solidarity with members of the Black Student Union after last week’s shooting death of Keith Scott by police in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I feel like this community is not doing enough and being a black student at UWGB, which is predominantly a white university, will bring some attention to the whole entire situation,” Thomas says.
In all, three students stood silent holding signs and wearing duct tape over their mouths outside the University Union around 11 a.m. Thomas says he’s had his own run-ins with police, specifically while working as an intern with the City of Green Bay’s Economic Development department this summer.
“I was leaving Glass Nickel Pizza Company and I had bought a cream soda. I was walking down the street and a police officer stops me. I’m thinking he’s suspicious that I have a glass bottle and that it might be alcohol,” explains Thomas. “He’s very tense when he gets out of his car. When he does, I show him my bottle. The officer says, oh I’m sorry you just look a little suspicious. He goes back into his car and I go about my business. It bothered me when he said I looked suspicious.”
Thomas says his goal is to continue to bring attention to this issue both on campus and in the community. He’s working with a faculty member, and plans to go on ride-alongs with Green Bay police in an effort to keep the conversation going.
