About 30 local activists gathered at the University of Georgia Arch on Sunday night protesting in solidarity with those in Ferguson, MO.
In case you missed it, Ferguson has been in the national spotlight due to protests over the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African American male who was shot and killed by the police.
The NAACP has called for justice, and simultaneous protests were scheduled in cities all over the country.
Among the protesters was Tim Denson, former mayoral candidate, who said the larger issue is “the militarization of our polices forces,” which he described as “frightnening.” Denson added that Athens-Clarke County has its own armored vehicle that it obtained a couple of years ago.
“We are locally having to pay for the upkeep of the tank,” he said. (Editor’s note: It’s a truck, not a tank.)
Aaron Joslin, a grad student at UGA, said he’s equally concerned about this “militarization.”
“When did the general populus become the enemy? We’re paying their salaries, they’re protecting and serving us, yet we have somehow morphed into some fearsome enemy that they must control,” Joslin told Flagpole. He added, “When you give overly testosterone [laden] people fancy weapons, they tend to come out and get used.”
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