Ferris students show support for victims of terrorist attacks

Travis Hill, Michael Leech and Kyle Flite wear the French colors in the quad to show support for victims of recent attacks in France and across the world.
Travis Hill, Michael Leech and Kyle Fite wear the French colors in the quad to show support for victims of recent attacks in France and across the world. Photo by Angela Graf

To show support for victims not only of attacks in France, but of daily acts of terrorism all over the world, Ferris students stood in the North Quad from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, wearing French colors while holding the French flag and a sign that read:

“Take a moment of silence for victims of violent acts around the world.
Paris, Kenya, Nigeria, Lebanon, Syria, Baghdad.”

The three students holding the flag are all Ferris law enforcement majors; junior Travis Hill, junior Michael Leech and sophomore Kyle Fite. After hearing about the attacks on Friday, Leech wanted to do something more significant than just change his Facebook profile picture.

“Even if people just take ten seconds,” he said. “It shows that we can stop our busy schedules and realize that there are other people out there and that they need us just as much as we needed them 14 years ago. It’s just a chance for us to show that we do still care about the world around us.”

In addition to the sign, Leech had names of the other countries written on his shirt.

“It’s not just to take Paris into consideration but also other nations that have been attacked both recently and in the past,” said Fite. “It opens the eyes of some students when they walk by and read that there are places other than Paris being attacked and that whole other places exist outside of their own world and social media.”

On the evening of Nov. 13, 2015, a series of coordinated terrorists’ attacks began in Paris, France, and the surrounding area by the group known as Islamic State (ISIS).

These attacks included mass shootings, suicide bombings and hostage situations. There were a reported 129 people dead as of Nov. 15, although that number is supposedly going to rise in the coming days. In addition to the dead there were at least 352 people injured.