By John Rogers and Guadalupe Triana /// News Editor and Managing Editor

Tuesday, Nov. 25

As anger, disappointment and shock spread across the country following the news that Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted for fatally shooting Michael Brown Jr., Lewis & Clark students this morning gathered outside J.R. Howard and draped Frank Manor House in black banners to show solidarity with the unarmed 18-year-old.

“I feel like I died a thousand times.”

“Yesterday I wrote in my book,” Black Student Union Co-Rep Darius Grays (’16) said to the crowd standing outside J.R. Howard. “I feel like I died a thousand times.”

By 10:30 a.m., a group of about thirty students had gathered. Most were somber, wearing dark clothes at the request of the Black Student Union, which sent out an e-mail the night before.

[tweet]

“I try not to look at all the negative comments on Facebook,” Grays said. “We want everyone to know about this. Not everyone has to care. A lot of people don’t even know this happened.”

Noah Callaghan (’15), who helped organize the gathering, said, “I thought it was a good idea to have kind of a mourning for the decision about Ferguson.” The group stayed in front of Howard for close to an hour. “We wanted to show that we care. And regardless of the decision that was made by the grand jury, we will keep letting people know that we care. We understand that it is fucked but being peaceful and understanding what happened and what we can do now is the point.”

[follow id=”thepioneerlog” size=”large” ]

Protests continued throughout the day, culminating with students walking a 250-foot roll of black butcher paper to the Manor House. They unfurled some of it as a carpet at the entryway, draped strips over the balcony, and wrapped trees.

The office of Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement will hold a community discussion about Ferguson at 4:00 p.m. today, Nov. 25, in Stamm Dining Hall. Downtown, a protest is planned in front of the Justice Center on SW 3rd and Madison, beginning at 4:00 p.m.