Photo by Mat Bejerano
On Thursday, San Jose State Students for a Democratic Society held a protest against the killing of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police officers with one thing missing: the voices of Black students.
Protestors from the organization formed a small group in front of the Olympic Black Power statue in the early afternoon.
Students for a Democratic Society is a student activist organization that seeks to fight against police terror, racism and women’s oppression, according to their instagram.
As members of the group began to speak using megaphones, more and more Black students openly voiced their frustrations with the event.
Biochemistry junior Kemi Kaka was one of those students who went up to group members to voice their frustrations with the lack of inclusion.
“It’s kind of bullshit, It’s performative at its highest,” Kaka said. “They could have done a coalition with the Black sororities or fraternities that are here, or even the athletes or the students.”
Kaka said she knew about the event, but other students spectating were left unaware of what was taking place.
Political science junior Seyahmi Currie was another student who was demanding more representation of Black students.
“Their hearts are in the right place, but the way that they’re going about it is more regressive,” Currie said. “Someone out there who’s a part of the Black community went up there and gave her voice and it felt like they didn’t listen to her.”
Currie, who is a member of SJSU Black Student Union, said they felt as though they didn’t give Black students a voice.
“There’s so many Black organizations they could have partnered up with and I’m pretty sure they would be happy to protest something like this,” Currie said.
History junior John Duroyan, who was one of the SDS speakers at the protest, spoke about the importance of making minority communities heard but understands the criticism of the lack of inclusion in their protest.
Duroyan said the protest was held nationwide amongst other SDS groups as part of their “national week of action.”
He said planning began on Monday and that if given more time they would have reached out to more Black student groups on campus.
“We get orders from national SDS and they do this stuff on very short notice,” Duroyan said. “I think if we had more time to plan protests like this, then we would have gathered a lot more people and gotten a lot more Black voices.”
He said they reached out to the Black Leadership and Opportunity Center but was not met with a response.
Emerald Green, program director of the Black Leadership and Opportunity Center, declined to comment.
David Almeida, former president of SJSU Student for a Democratic Society, said the lack of Black students in the protest was their biggest mistake.
“I completely self criticize on behalf of the organization,” Almeida said. “Next time if we consider doing anything like this again, we will definitely involve the input of Black student voices and leaders of Black student organizations here on campus.”
After the protest, members of organization and Black students discussed what could be done in the future so Black students can feel as though their voices are heard.
“I feel like next time they’ll do a better job of reaching out and better planning, especially when it comes to Black issues,” Currie said. “Although they messed up, how you fix it or how you react to the mistake that you made describes you as a person.”