Newbury Street shutdown, 2014

BLM Ferguson protest, 2014
Courtesy Nelly Rosario '94

Members of the MIT community--including physics professor and Institute Community and Equity Officer Edmund Bertschinger (standing, 2nd from left) and Black Students' Union members--in front of Walker Memorial before heading to the Newbury Street Shutdown march in Boston, 25 October 2014.

The organizers of the Newbury Street Shutdown, from a group called Black Lives Matter Boston, planted the seeds of inspiring chants among the group. I shouted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” I roared, “They think it’s a game; they think it’s a joke.” I declared, “We want freedom!” Because in this system, where a Black life can be lost, besmirched, then forgotten, we do not have freedom. With me were a hundred other voices in agreement that what happened in Ferguson is indicative of a society that does not care about Black lives.

Alyssa Napier [shown seated, far right]
"Newbury Street shutdown: Starting a discussion on race at MIT,"The Tech, 14 November 2014

Timeline: 2010s
School: School of Science
Department: AdministrationPhysics
Life: Black Students' Union (BSU)
Career: Community
Object: Image
Collection: Activism, Black Lives Matter, Rising Voices 1995-Present, Students