The National Pan-Hellenic Council held a rally on Saturday to take a stand against racial profiling, inviting minority students from NC State and neighboring schools to march across the NC State campus and listen to Raleigh leaders speak on the subject. The Rally was the first organized by Paige Hardy, the NPHC publicity chair for 2014-15.

Hardy, a senior in business administration, said she was admittedly nervous leading up to the event but was amazed by the turnout that ended up including about 50 students. “It was a powerful experience being a part of something like this.”

One of the leaders of the march, who asked to remain anonymous, told a story of his connection to the people in Ferguson. His family living in Ferguson has repeatedly told him that there is no danger of violence. He stressed the need for the black community to define themselves in opposition to the negative images displayed in the media.

The march began in front of the 1911 Building with a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the African American National Anthem. Monse Alvarez, one of the more experienced demonstrators who participated, began improvising chants over her megaphone as the march moved through the Brickyard passing several dozen unsuspecting onlookers. The demonstrators at one point broke into a spontaneous chant saying, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” in support of the protestors in Ferguson, Missouri.

The march continued from the Brickyard through the Free Expression Tunnel, chanting all along the way, and finished at Wolf Plaza where there was a heavy moment of silence for the victims of police brutality and racial profiling, an issue that still affects the black community to this day. Some students then said a few words to the group.

Hardy, a member of the Mu Omicron Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., said she saw this as a great opportunity for black students to learn to come together as a community.