More than two dozen people joined a sit-in at the Moritz College of Law organized by the Black Law Students Association. They鈥檙e urging Ohio State to sever ties with Columbus police.
CPD has shot and killed seven people since the beginning of 2020, all of them Black. Last summer, OSU student government called on the school to cut ties with them after officers deployed tear gas on protesters. Now Kendall Beard and other Black law students are pushing the law school to weigh in.
鈥淭heir inaction is not ok,鈥� Beard says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e requesting that they formally recommend that the Department of Justice launch an investigation into the Columbus police department and we also are asking that they publicly condemn the Columbus police department鈥檚 continued history of violence against marginalized communities.鈥�
Beard says they鈥檙e particularly focused on convincing law school dean Lincoln Davies to add his voice to those calling for a DOJ probe, 鈥渂ecause we want him to make the impact he can in the arena where he has the most leverage, right?鈥�
City leaders have already invited that DOJ review and U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) has encouraged it as well.
When it comes to their demands to condemn police use of force, BLSA member Candace Milner points to the recent order penned by federal district judge Algenon Marbley.
鈥淭his shouldn鈥檛 be hard because a district judge who also works here just did it,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like it hasn鈥檛 been done before, it鈥檚 not like there鈥檚 not a record he could look to on how to do it.鈥�
The order temporarily prohibits CPD鈥檚 use of weapons like pepper spray against non-violent protesters.
Destiny Brown isn鈥檛 a law student but she showed up in solidarity with the protesters. She graduates from OSU in a few days and then she鈥檚 headed to New Orleans to teach history as a part of Teach for America. Speaking through a bullhorn she argued it鈥檚 time to sever ties with the police.
鈥淓specially after Chitt Fest,鈥� she says. 鈥淵鈥檃ll saw that, and then a couple of days later they murdered a kid? Like what is the point? They鈥檙e not keeping us safe.鈥�
Last month about a thousand students gathered on Chittenden Avenue for the traditional party following OSU鈥檚 spring football game. The crowd devolved into a riot, flipping cars and breaking windows. Columbus Police did not intervene until much later. Some spectators were quick to compare the hands-off approach taken with a largely white crowd as opposed to the often heavy police presence for crowds of largely Black demonstrators.
Tuesday the following week, Columbus Police officer Nicholas Reardon shot and killed 16-year-old Ma鈥橩hia Bryant.
