Today, I took part in my very first peaceful demonstration.

Students, faculty, and staff gathered silently in the free speech area in front of the student union. Some stood shoulder-to-shoulder, some laid on the ground, some held signs and pictures. Everyone was respectful.

Finally, quiet words cut through the thick silence.
“All lives matter. Love… love… love…”

Large-scale upheaval like the riots in Ferguson and the protests that followed the grand jury decision in the case of Eric Garner are reactions to a system that seems uniquely stacked against people of color. As someone who rarely takes sides, who tries hard to ferret out justice in the murkiest of situations, I find myself helplessly heartbroken at the loss of so many African-American lives.

Yet, I find profound hope in the willingness of higher education institutions to allow their people to peacefully demonstrate, even as we struggle to understand how cases that are ruled as homicides go unpunished.