TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated that the university was unaware of the protest that was planned. The university was aware of the protest.
In light of recent shootings and other incidents happening around the U.S., Black University of Toledo students are demanding action from the school.
On Tuesday, the dozens of students gathered at Centennial Mall and chanted, "All power to the people. And the people have all the power. Remember that."
The crowd of students and Black leaders joined together at the University of Toledo, in protest against racism.
"We shouldn't have to explain ourselves why we have to protest. We shouldn't have to explain to other people why we are experience racism, micro-aggressions, prejudice," said Nyreisha Tevis, a Black student leader at UToledo.
"It's the Black students that are feeling discriminated against and it's the Black students that need to be heard. That, quite frankly, aren't being heard," added Taylor Wynne, another Black student leader like Tevis.
These student leaders took to campus to talk about everything from protections for police, to recent shootings around the country and voter suppression.
They're calling for everyone, including the university, to be vocally anti-racist right now.
"Not addressing the events going on in the world today with the shootings and normalizing Black people getting slaughtered on television; that's not normal, but we're normalizing it," said Wynne.
Wynne says the university needs to talk about it because it's affecting students.
The statement sent to WTOL 11 by UToledo reads, in part, "The University of Toledo welcomes conversations with students and members of the campus community to strengthen an inclusive environment at UToledo that is free of racism, sexism, bigotry and other negative influences."
The students want the school to do more.
"This university, they pride themselves on diversity and inclusion, but you have this whole group of marginalized people who are marginalized outside of society as well that don't feel supported on this campus," said Tevis.
Tevis says the group wants the school to educate students with a mandatory Africana studies course.
In a statement, UToledo said, "This year, we identified addressing systemic racism as a key initiative for the University."
The university has held a series of discussions about diversity since George Floyd's death in May. There were three Dialogues on Diversity town halls in June and a recent one focused on the rise of violence and hatred toward Asians.
At least eight other virtual discussions on race, ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to minority vaccinations in the months to follow, also took place.
