By: Nina Payne
Trinity Times Correspondent

At the dawn of Black History Month student organizers at Trinity Washington University are calling for an end of violence against people of color at the hands of American law enforcement.

Trinity’s Black Student Alliance has scheduled a Feb. 9, 2023, candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died following an altercation with Memphis police officers.

BSA members said it was time to bring the community together to mourn what appears to be another senseless death of a man of color and to demand the nation seriously address systemic racism in U.S. police departments, said Miriam Barcenas, a senior at Trinity and an organizer of the event.

This gathering will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Room 103 of the Payden Academic Center during Trinity’s weekly “Soulful Thursdays,” with a presentation given by Kimberly Monroe, assistant professor of Global Affairs at the university, entitled “Women in Resistance,” where she will also be addressing the Tyre Nichols case.

Students and community members will then assemble in front of Payden at 2:45pm, where they will carry candles, photos, flyers, and possibly protest posters, as they march across campus to Notre Dame Chapel, where they will be joined in prayer with Father Stephen Thorne, coordinator of Trinity’s Black Catholic Ministry, Culture, and Scholarship.

The grounds in front of the chapel were chosen because of its proximity to Michigan Avenue, ensuring their message will be visible to the public.

The organizers are urging university students, faculty, and other members of the Northeast Washington community, to stand in solidarity with them at the vigil.

Trinity President Patricia McGuire has been forceful in her public stance that society must call for police reform.

“If we don’t confront the evils of racism and white supremacy and police brutality, who will?” McGuire asked in her blog posted Jan 29.

The university president’s blog was posted following a video released Jan 27 by the Memphis Police Department that showed the encounter between Tyre Nichols and Memphis police officers.

“The video of Tyre’s last hours of consciousness expose the hypocrisy of the police action,” McGuire said in her blog. “He was not armed, he was surrounded by 5-6-7 police officers, all big burly men who surely could have taken him into custody peacefully. Pulled from the car and brutalized immediately, he ran to try to save his life — and he paid dearly for trying to find safety.”

It is important for the Trinity community to come to together in peaceful protest against the tragic death of Nichols and so many others like him across the country, said Sister Ann Howard, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur and director of Trinity’s Campus Ministry.

“At Trinity, we care,” Sister Ann said. “We care that Tyre Nichols lost his life in such a brutal way, and while legal action is taking place and consequences for the perpetrators of violence against him are taking effect, justice requires us to do what we can to put an end to violence of this kind.”

It is that spirit of activism that prompted Barcenas to spearhead the organizing of this vigil and to recuse herself from the role of reporting on this event as a staff member of Trinity Times, the university’s student publication. Trinity was founded 125 years ago by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on a social justice mission to educate women, so it’s natural that the university’s community should unite in the spirit of activism to call for racial justice today, Barcenas said.