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April 5, 2003
B-CC students protest Iraq war
By CINDI BROWNFIELD | News-Journal Education Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — College student Kellie Adesina says the color of her skin has influenced her opposition to the war against Iraq.
Adesina joined about 100 other African-American students for a "walkout against the war" at Bethune-Cookman College on Friday.
Similar protests were held at the same time at historically black colleges throughout the South – an event scheduled to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
"Being a group of people who have faced more injustices, I think we can relate more to the people of Iraq. We're invading their country," said Adesina, 21, a senior majoring in political science. "They call it Operation Iraqi Freedom, but I don't understand. Where is the freedom coming into play?"
A Gallup poll released March 28 shows a wide division between blacks and whites when it comes to the war. Only 29 percent of blacks favor the war, while 78 percent of whites do, the national poll found.
B-CC junior Rachel White, who was sworn in Friday as the Student Government Association president for the next school year, believes most Bethune-Cookman students oppose the war.
"It's really taking a toll on our student body," said White, 21, who skipped her international politics class to participate in the walkout. "We see it as a war between two people – George Bush and Saddam Hussein."
Even students with friends in the military turned out for Friday's protest, at which six students spoke and dozens of students held hands in prayer for peace. Senior Letitia Bethel, who is from the Bahamas, said she supports her three close friends on the front lines in Iraq, but is still trying to understand why this war is needed.
"I think President Bush is doing this war just to finish what his father started," said Bethel, 21.
One student who happened onto the walkout in its final minutes also blamed Bush, but wondered aloud how many of her fellow students are voters. At a student assembly last fall, only half of those in attendance raised their hands when asked if they were registered to vote, said sophomore Adrienne Burrows, 21.
Another sophomore, 20-year-old Jeffrey E. Branch Jr., took the microphone Friday to challenge other students to get more involved in opposing to the war. He led the students as they raised their right hands and vowed to make their views known.
"We need to be united," Branch said.