MarShawn's Story
McCarrel began his work in activism alongside the Ohio Student Association (OSA), a grassroots organization that he became involved with following the acquittal of George Zimmerman after he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. In October of 2013, during an OSA-led protest in Ohio against the proposed "Stand Your Ground" bill, McCarrel performed a piece of his poetry to commence the event.
We're from more guns than job applications / But they don't hear us / We're from where young brothers plays triggers like music / The sound soften than our screams / But y'all don't hear us. / We're from drugs, where the system melts everything but the prejudice from our skin. / You say my generation's troubled / I say my generation's on fire.
Following his work against the bill, McCarrel participated in other forms of youth activism, notably the self-entitled group the "Nashville 5", in which McCarrel was arrested after working in tandem with four other activists in June of 2014 to protest at Tennessee's annual National Governors' Association convention against exclusionary educational policies and the state's problematic minimum wage standard.After his work in Tennessee, McCarrel planned to work alongside other activists and organizers in a proposed "Freedom Summer" of 2014. These plans shifted after 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. McCarrel became involved in the organization of the Ferguson protests following Brown's death.
McCarrel also participated in organizing events to show support for John Crawford and Tamir Rice, both of who were killed by police officers in Ohio.
This page has paths:
- The Ferguson Conspiracy Sidra Arshad