CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hundreds of students and community members participated in the UNCC March to End Injustice Saturday afternoon.
The group started off campus, marched through the streets surrounding the university, and ended outside the Popp Martin Student Union.
Joshua Mason, a student and organizer of the march, said he wanted to hold the march to unite the student body.
"Yes, we're standing up to end racial injustices and just racist practices or racial profiling that the police and other law enforcement have inflicted,” Mason said. “But at the same time, we can't, we can't change if we don't come together."
Mason said he hopes the march inspires other college students and their entire generation to stand up for change.
"We have to come up with a different way to get things handled, and so we need to actively, you know, come together and find a better way to solve these things,” Mason said.
Members of the UNC Charlotte football team took part in the march to support the cause.
"I knew if I wanted to be the change, I want my teammates to come out, I was going to have to take the first step and be there,” said Tyriq Harris, a football player. “So, got a lot of great teammates behind me, too, coming and a lot of great teammates in front of me that I'm following behind. We're all going to be here to support and represent."
Luke Martin, another football player, held a sign displaying “BLM” to show support for his teammates and the black community.
"Black lives matter because in this time right now they're the ones that are going, the black community is the one that's going through all these hardships right now,” Martin said. "They need our help. They need everybody to call out. They need the whole world to know that we support them."
The march wrapped up outside the student union, but Mason urged demonstrators to continue the movement beyond this day by writing their elected officials, getting involved with organizations like Heal Charlotte, and voting.
"It's never a one-day thing,” Harris said. “It's not going to be a one-week thing. You know, it's going to be a lifelong thing."
UNC Charlotte made a post on social media saying in part, “We stand with Niner Nation in the journey toward change.”