BREAKING: “Walk for Wells” protest on campus

By Brannagh Rattigan

Students gathered at the campus green on Oct. 22 to protest racial injustice in honor of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black American found dead face-down in the water at Horn Island, Mississippi on July 6.

A grand jury determined that Wells had drowned with no evidence of foul play, despite the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, which found that the cause and manner of death was to be undetermined. 

Hosted by the Rider’s collegiate chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the executive board and participants began the protest at 5:21 p.m., opening with a welcome statement from the president, E’miija Eccles, a senior criminal justice major.

Eccles introduced Reggie Walker, the director of the Educational Opportunity Program, to give an opening speech, discuss Nolan Wells’ case and boost morale going into the walk.

Walker said, “When the story of Nolan Wells broke, and you hear what has happened to him and what we still don’t know about what has happened to him because we are not getting the information that we deserve, or that the family, more importantly, deserves, how could you not want to do something?”

Walker then led a prayer, inviting people of any faith to join in or to garner positive energy through their own means.

Following Walker, Eccles brought out Naa’san S.J. Carr, ’24, who is the inaugural president and founding member of the Rider University NAACP College Chapter, to give a speech.

“We are here today in the name of Nolan Wells. We gather because remembrance matters, but so does the pursuit of truth and repair,” Carr said. “We gather because advocacy matters, but so does accountability. And we gather because when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”

The large crowd of protesters held various signs, some saying, “Nolan didn’t drown,” “Protect black children” and “Our freedom cannot wait.”

The walk began at 5:37 p.m. and consisted of a minimum three laps around Centennial Lake, with the option to do more if desired.

During the walk, protesters chanted sayings such as, “No justice, no peace,” “Say his name” and “Our color is not a crime.” Students and staff uninvolved in the protest began to gather around to watch, record and show respect for the participants.

Eccles, the organizer of the protest, reached out to all of the Black organizations on campus, such as the Divine 9 organizations, Haitian Student Association, Black Student Union and Black Men Unified in order to create a large crowd and an even larger impact. Eccles expressed an intention to raise awareness and spark change.

“I did this event because I felt like it was a need to bring awareness of the case to our campus, but also show the world that not only can we come together and be great, but also that we’re standing against every system that is oppressing us,” Eccles said. “We’re standing against the injustices in our systems. We’re showing them that being black is not a crime. It’s not a rite of passage to do what you want to us.”

Eccles reached out to Public Safety three weeks in advance to assure there was support and safety for protest participants. Public Safety was present on two golf carts around the path of the walk.

Carr expressed how special it was to be invited back to Rider as a proud alum, especially as he founded the chapter with the purpose of standing up for injustice, as well as educating and supporting the Black community on campus.

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Carr said, “When there’s injustice somewhere, it’s a threat to everywhere, and so we know that what happened in Mississippi could very well happen here in New Jersey. We really want to continue to foster a community, continue to uplift justice and hopefully one day, all be united together as human beings here on Earth.” 

Eccles shared that she was happy with how the protest played out, and that it gave her hope for the future of our society.

“It went way better than I expected. To just be able to bring all of us together, create a community in the middle of a space that is not for us, it was very refreshing,” Eccles said. “It gave me hope because it showed me that if we can gather like this, we could change the world.”

Rider’s NAACP College Chapter will be hosting a paint and sip event on Oct. 27 and a vision board party on Nov. 5 for any who would like to participate. The organization can be found and contacted on their public instagram account, @naacp_rider, for more information.