At its weekly meeting Tuesday, Central Student Government introduced a resolution to stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson, Mo. against police brutality.
The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson on Aug. 9 has sparked widespread controversy and continued national coverage. Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, shot and killed Brown, a Black teenager who was allegedly unarmed. In the weeks following the shooting, Ferguson residents protested racist and violent police actions.
The proposal, penned by Rackham student Rae Scevers, a Rackham Graduate School representative, noted other examples of police brutality to illustrate the prevalence of violent police procedures.
“The killing of Michael Brown came less than a month after the brutal New York Police killings by chokehold of an older Black man, Eric Garner and just a week after Los Angeles police beat to death for 10 minutes 37-year-old Latino parent Omar Abrego,” the resolution read.
The legislation also discussed the impact of police brutality on college campuses across the country. It noted an incident at the University of California, Berekeley on Nov. 9, 2011 when Berkeley police “attacked and brutalized peaceful student demonstration,” the resolution said.
During the meeting, amendments were offered regarding the language of the legislation, including making it more inclusive and representative of more minorities.
Clarifications on the content of the proposal were also discussed during the meeting.
“When you say any efforts to militarize the Ann Arbor and U of M campus police, I think that might need to be more specific. Are we saying that we are maybe opposing them getting taser guns?” asked Engineering senior Andy Modell, Engineering representative.
The student assembly also voted to pass resolutions regarding the People’s Climate March — a climate and sustainability event in New York City — and a resolution focused on expanding CSG’s presence outside of the Michigan Union by holding meetings in other University Unions across campus.
The proposal to stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson against police brutality was referred to the resolutions committee. The legislation will be reviewed by the committee and then the assembly will vote on the proposal in the following meeting.