An estimated 400 students and staff at Princeton University participated in a campus walkout and die-in Thursday, according to the demonstration's organizers. It was just one of many campus protests across the country in response to the announcement Wednesday evening that a grand jury would not indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 17 choking death of Eric Garner.
"As black students at an elite university, our black bodies are not safeguarded from police brutality," said Wilglory Tanjong, a Princeton undergrad and activist, in a statement. "We are one interaction, one bullet away from becoming another hashtag. When a black man is murdered on camera, and nothing happens, it is time to end any spirit of complacency."
Thursday's demonstrations came after last week's protests over a separate grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August. Students have continued to organize in protest of that decision, staging die-ins, walkouts and moments of silence.
Students at the University of Texas at Austin held a massive protest and die-in Thursday. Demonstrators invoked the name of Larry Jackson, an unarmed black man who was killed in June 2013 by Charles Kleinert, then an Austin police detective. Kleinert retired from the force that October and was indicted this May for Jackson's death. His pre-trial hearing has been postponed four times, according to The Daily Texan. Jackson's sister is scheduled to speak on the UT campus Thursday evening.
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And on this day, I've never been so proud of being a Longhorn \m/ #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/fdjm8QSxnL
— Ashley Spencer (@theTrackQueen) December 4, 2014
At Hampton University, a historically black school in Hampton, Virginia, students marched to City Hall chanting "Hands up, don't shoot," and staged a die-in outside the building. Hampton Mayor George Wallace came out to speak to protesters.
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Here are images from some of the other campuses participating.
MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
Protest here at UNT's library mall #BlackLivesMatter #MomentOfSilence pic.twitter.com/7U0wGZefsE
— Justin (@_JToni) December 4, 2014
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
EMORY UNIVERSITY