Trayvon Martin, Shantel Davis, Shaqur McNair, Tawana Sampson and Michael Brown.  Look up any of these names online and you find one common theme: all of these men and women suffered at the hands of police.

Protests against police brutality picked up after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Acts of resistance have become widespread throughout the nation, and on Wednesday, Oct. 22, Guilford College began its own chapter in the fight against police brutality.

Concerned students organized a demonstration where people lay on the ground as if they were dead, also known as a die-in.

“I was mad, and I wanted to do something,” said Chelsea Yarborough, senior and organizer of the die-in and the National Day of Protest at Guilford College.

Students gathered and lay down on the pavement as other students outlined their bodies with chalk, symbolizing those who have died at the hands of police. Simultaneously, students used a microphone to engage everyone in chants, as well as express overall thoughts they wanted to share.

“It was very powerful that so many students not only showed up, but were also willing to get written up for such an important cause,” said Jon Macemore, another senior and organizer. “It shows that students on this campus care about receiving justice for humanity.”

Despite the peaceful nature of the protests, a number of Guilford students were written up. Most students were not informed of what the violation was, a protocol step ignored.

“I was sitting there thinking, my institution is telling me to live by my core values of justice, equality and diversity,” said Yarborough. “Yet you’re going to sit here and punish me for living that out and standing up in front of my peers speaking truth to power.”

According to Public Safety, however, it was strictly a matter of safety.

“I would hope no one would do this,” said Ron Stowe, director of public safety. “But, it would be easy in that situation for someone with opposing beliefs of the protesters to walk by and ‘accidentally’ step on someone’s hand or ‘stumble’ and fall over, injuring both parties.”

Although they are trying to maintain a safe environment for everyone, the officers involved were thought to have acted discourteously.

“I was very surprised that they acted so abruptly,” said sophomore Najha Zigbi-Johnson, a participant who was written up for ‘being in the way.’ “Their inherent negative reaction and inability to take themselves out of the role of an officer was an issue when it came to seeing what we were doing as positive.”

Despite these setbacks, around 15 to 20 students carpooled downtown to join different communities of Greensboro, totaling 86 protesters together, at a march at Smith Homes. The number later doubled, reaching 156 protesters by the end of the night.

“Students, even if the don’t directly experience it, have a responsibility,” said Scott Trent, organizer of Stop Mass Incarceration Network in Greensboro. “They have to do something, and it really makes a huge difference when they do.”

Love and unity appeared to prevail as people from all different backgrounds marched through Smith Homes, the destination of a recent rights violation of an African American resident and mother.

“Seeing everyone march together was awesome,” said Demetrius Noble, a spoken- word poet and professor in the African American & African Diaspora studies department at UNC-Greensboro. “It not only demonstrates that this is an important issue that affects everyone, but shows that people are actively overcoming unnatural social dividers to band together for the necessary fight of making the world beautiful and egalitarian for all.”

People’s voices chanted with passion, “No justice, no peace, no racist police” and “No more stolen lives.”

“For people here to actually step off the campus and engage the community, that is obviously an education in itself,” said Tim Hopkins, a revolutionary communist activist and organizer of Stop Mass Incarceration Network in Greensboro. “We all, including students, have a pivotal role to play in this local chapter.”