Marching Tactic #2/LandonClow

Landon Clow

5/15/14

Marching Tactic #2

Words: 369

 

                After the tabling event, the whole Social Movements 122 class and other students took part in a march around campus. Earlier in the day sign had been made for each person to hold and the sign I had read prison overcrowding then it was circled with a line through it. Once everyone was in a line formation we began the march from the free speech area. As I was walking with my sign held high I looked around and saw something I will never forget. I am proud to say that I have experienced an event were a large number of students who at best know each other's name came together and took part in a powerful right of free speech.

                As we continued to march down Shaw Ave in front of Fresno State, for a long time in a while I was able to completely soak in the experience and felt although people may have not agreed with what we were saying our voices did not go unheard. It was at this point that a strong sense of unity was formed amongst the group even though we had just met one another a few months ago. For the rest of the march I was dreading it coming to an end but the overall feeling of joy will stay with me forever.

                Even though I felt the march was an extreme success, there were a couple of things that I will use in future marches that I partake in. The first being that I spend more time taking in the experience than chanting and being vocal about other group's causes. I also felt that one way to improve would be for a couple agreed upon chants that everyone would be able to chant at the same time. However given it was my first march I saw the mistake as an example to learn from rather than it being seen as a negative. The other thing I noticed is that toward the end of the march the group started to branch off into two groups, which was understandable given the amount of people who are marching for the first time as well.