The Ohio Student Association held a rally on the Statehouse steps on October 18 to demand an end to police killing of unarmed people of color both in Ohio and around the country. The group has been recently active protesting the police murder of John Crawford III in a Walmart in Beavercreek Ohio. Despite video showing Crawford being gunned down by Officer Sean Williams with virtually no warning, while holding a BB gun he intended to purchase, Williams was not indicted for any crime connected with his death.

From October 6 through 9, the group occupied the Beavercreek police station in order to present their demands to the Beavercreek Chief of Police. The Group had three demands including the firing of Williams and the charging of 911 caller Ronald Ritchie for causing the incident by making false claims to the police. The organizers also demanded better training for police to prevent future incidents. All of their demands were firmly rebuffed by the Beavercreek police chief in two separate meetings.

The crowd at the statehouse enthusiastically took up call and response chants including “Power to the People” and all the speeches seemed well received. Rally attendees identified themselves as coming from every major metropolitan area in Ohio. The rally drew over 150 participants.

The rally kicked off with singing and featured speeches by a number of student organizers as well as from activists from around the country. One pastor who spoke had traveled to Ferguson from his home in Cincinnati and remained there for months, only returning to Ohio to be present at this event. The student organizers stressed that they would continue protesting until their demands were met because they claim that “power is visible.”

Activists from the group also traveled to Ferguson, Missouri on the previous weekend to participate in a weekend of rallies and protests against the police murder of Michael Brown, which has drawn national attention.

The weekend of events held in Ferguson included a takeover of a Walmart to link the murders of Michael Brown and Vonderrit Myers, Jr. with that of John Crawford. Two more protests took place at Walmarts in the St Louis area after organizers from Ohio had left to return home.

The killing of Myers added more controversy in the Ferguson area. Police claim that Myers pulled a gun and fired upon an off duty policeman three times after leaping from the bushes. His family claims he was unarmed and carrying a sandwich. Twitter pictures of the crime scene showed that Myers could not have leapt from the bushes, as there were no bushes present on that block. The police have since changed their story. Myers was shot 17 times by the unidentified off duty officer.

Speaker after speaker gave statistics on, and cited incidents of police killings of unarmed people of color. The victims mentioned ranged in age from 7 to 93. There was particular focus on the killing of John Crawford, which took place on video, and was subject to a highly politicized investigation by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's hand-picked special prosecutor Mark Piepmeier.

The speakers and crowd repeatedly vowed to “Fight Back” and make demands for justice, rather than ask. They vowed to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box and passed out voter guides.

They also vowed that protest activity and the visible exercise of power will not cease until the senseless killing of people of color ceases.