UPDATED: Oct. 29, 2015 at 11:07 a.m.

Black Lives Matter. That was the consensus following the (In)Justice For All panel among Syracuse University students in attendance and panelists who participated in the event.

The panel, hosted by the National Pan-Hellenic Council Wednesday night in Goldstein Auditorium, focused on social justice and police brutality. The nearly two-hour-long event featured the mothers of Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin, two teenagers who were shot.

Tania Joseph, a sophomore broadcast and digital journalism major, said she enjoyed that panelist Benjamin Crump, the president of the National Bar Association, talked about how black lives matter, but it is not that all other lives do not matter.

She said the panel was powerful and that there were a lot of emotional moments for her. She added that she heard the panelists talk on the news, but actually having them in front of her and telling their stories made the event better.

Fredricka Whitfield, a CNN anchor who was one of the panelists, said in an interview following the panel that instinctively, everyone thinks of the news about a woman finding out her son has been killed, but it is another thing to hear a mother talk about seeing her child laying there lifeless and now having to process the gravity of what has happened.

“I think really hit home for everyone,” Whitfield said. “I had not heard that perspective from them before and I think that led to a great reminder — a sad reminder — but a reminder nonetheless that we’re talking about human lives. We’re talking about lives; it’s not about a story.”

Whitfield said she thought the panel was great but no one really knew, coming into the event, where the conversation would be going. She added that hearing audience reactions was enlightening because, “It clearly is striking a cord with many on many levels.”

Keith Kobland, media manager for SU, said that a stipulation of holding the event was that the panelists requested no video coverage. He added that security was the same as any other event in the Goldstein Auditorium, which he said has a capacity to seat 1,500 people and saw about that many attend the panel.

Leja Henderson, a sophomore inclusive early childhood special education dual major and a member of the Black Celestial Choir Ensemble, sang before the panel began its discussion.

Henderson said the event was informative for the black community, but she said she thinks more people should have come out to be educated, to come together as a community and to stand up for what is right.

“I will take away from the event that all lives matter, but we should throw it out there that black lives matter because black lives haven’t been appreciated for a long time and it’s time to start now,” Henderson said.

Correction: In a previous version of this article, Tania Joseph’s name was misspelled. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on October 29, 2015 at 12:29 am

Contact Katelyn: kmfaubel@syr.edu