Students voice concerns over political prisoners

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – In a world faced with a monumental number of issues, there’s one particular issue that is not quite getting the media coverage it deserves. As a result, a few Niagara University students decided to take matters into their own hands.

Earlier this semester students in Varsity Village House 4 decided to speak out about the concern surrounding prison strikes by hanging up a banner outside their house that says “slavery never ended, it changed forms.”

“The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population,” stated an anonymous student from the house. “Yet it contains 25 percent of the world’s population that is incarcerated.”

House 4 in the Varsity Village, or as the student unofficially named it “the social justice house,” has decided to spread word around campus with the hopes that NU students could be the ones to take action. Students have also started to raise money for the cause.

“Me and another NU student were raising money for ‘running down the walls’,’ 47th anniversary of the Attica uprising” the student explained.

Despite this being an important issue, it rarely receives the news coverage it deserves. Major news networks such as NBC, Fox News and CNN arguably never bring up the topic.

However, students at NU have always been encouraged to stand up for what they believe in, even if the message is heavy. The student eludes to the use of the word “slavery” in the banner.

“The use of the word is very intentional,” the student said. They go on to state that the rising numbers of those incarcerated is “directly correlated to heavily policed black areas,” the student mentioned. “These populations are being targeted.”

The students’ main goal by displaying this banner is unmistakeable; raise awareness of prison strikes, and the mistreatment of prisoners. From the targeting of minority communities to the abuse these prisoners face regularly, NU students have decided to once again voice their concerns and bring this issue to the forefront.

With the pride that NU has in upholding Vincentian traditions, there’s hope that NU will once again take action and raise awareness about these less talked about issues.