WTF, NCCU? Y’all really just arrested students at a nonviolent campus speak-out?

Friends, I’d like to share what happened at NCCU last week - and ask you to write letters in support of “The Durham 5.” The Durham 5 are 4 students* and one professor who were violently arrested by campus police at a nonviolent campus speak-out.

Wait. Back up. You said arrested. WHAT HAPPENED?!

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is Durham’s HBCU. It is a great school and a great pride of Durham.

Last Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 4 students* and 1 faculty member were arrested by NCCU police — on their own campus, by campus law enforcement.

Here are some photos. These are stills from videos taken by students and shared on social media — many of the videos have since been taken down.

Please take a moment to look at — to really see — these images. Note the students being forcefully pushed into cement sidewalk and glass walls; see them held off the ground; look at them getting pushed in the face (while being held off their feet by another officer); see a petite young woman being manhandled by multiple officers.

Their crimes?

What were these students doing that would necessitate such forceful action from campus police?

Uh…. they were holding a nonviolent march and speak-out.

The topic of the speak-out?

Student housing.

Specifically: the lack of adequate housing for enrolled students and the conditions in the housing that is offered.

Students brought attention to black mold, roaches, rodents, constantly breaking-down elevators, washers & dryers that don’t work, and flooding in basements in their dorms.

If you’re wondering “Why did the campus police arrest people?!”

I don’t have an answer for you. Neither do the students. None of us do.

Because there is no good reason.

The arrests were completely unnecessary.

And no, NCCU has not apologized.

In fact, the administration is side-stepping the arrests by having the gall to say “We hear you” about its housing issues while doubling-down on misleading narratives.

NCCU says the speak-out was led by “outside agitators.” This is not true.

The speak-out was student-led. “Outside agitators" is the oldest trope in the book, commonly used to discredit a message or a movement.

NCCU says the protest was “unsanctioned.” To this I say: so what?

Since when do students of a public university need an official permit to express their views on their own campus?

NCCU says one of the students “kicked the officer” while being arrested. No. She didn’t.

She is a human being with feet that were moving when she was on the ground with an officer holding her down. She is being human, with natural human responses. She is clearly just squirming - out of what I would gather is fear and/or anger. She is not targeting the officer with kicks.

NCCU has even characterized the speak-out as a riot. This is grossly misleading. It was completely peaceful UNTIL campus police started violently arresting people: throwing students to the ground, slamming faces onto concrete, hoisting them bodily aloft.

To be clear: I was not at the speak-out or march. However, I did talk with student organizers including Student Panthers immediately after the speak-out. I showed up at the jail, answering a call for community solidarity and jail support.

And I have watched video footage, again and again, from multiple angles taken by multiple students. The videos completely align with what the students have told me. They do NOT align with NCCU’s stories.

These were not “outside agitators.”

Again, louder for the back row, all of the arrestees were affiliated with NCCU.

Students told me that *one of the people detained is not currently enrolled as a full-time student, but was enrolled last semester and is very much an active NCCU community member. They said the arrestees are students and a faculty member.

Even if you do not believe the students — and you should believe them, I do, I continue to be VERY impressed with them — tell me why a faculty member would be arrested.

Make that make sense.

The faculty member can be clearly seen in video footage being held back by two officers, one on each of the professor’s arms that are being twisted behind his back, while he (the professor) is trying to run to the aid of a student - a student being slammed to the concrete ground by police.

(The next day, this professor was quiet-fired. He was locked out of his office, locked out of his email, told not to return to his classes.)

Taken to the jailhouse.

All five arrestees were transported to the county jail and taken before the magistrate. I know this because I was there at the jail. Often when student protesters are arrested on campus, they are processed on campus. Especially when those protestors are white. Nope, not this time. This time: to jail. What could the difference be?

After several long hours at the jail — a public building, funded by our tax dollars, which refused to let supporters in to use the restroom — the arrestees were released with a promise to appear in court.

Charges for all five are still pending. Charges include:

— 2nd degree trespassing (ON THEIR OWN CAMPUS!?)

— resisting a public officer

— failure to disperse

I believe the Durham community, and all people of good will, should stand with these young people.

The arrests were completely unwarranted.

All charges should be dropped.

These students deserve public acknowledgement of what they were subjected to.

They deserve a public apology.

The officers should be held accountable for their actions.

All other students present at the speak-out should be protected from any future disciplinary action.

Here is a link to a template - to write letters to NCCU in support of the Durham 5. It includes addresses and additional information.

It includes the students’ demands, directly from the students.

PLEASE WRITE LETTERS AND PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER-WRITING INFORMATION WITH YOUR NETWORKS.

I am amplifying the students’ message. They have asked community members to write in support of the arrested and any other students who were present at the speak-out.

Statement from Student Panthers

Again, the letter-writing template and all address information is in a Google Doc at this link.

Or use the QR code below:

Please email, send U.S.P.S. mail, or make a telephone call from wherever you are in the world.

Please share these letter-writing links with your networks.

Thank you, friends — for reading, for being here, and most of all, for your compassion, solidarity, and commitment to justice.

XOXO

P.S. The Durham 5 have legal representation, but may be facing fines, other court fees, and medical expenses. Some of the students were physically injured during their arrests.

Here is a link to donate for legal fees and other expenses. Or use the QR code below.