WALL, NJ- In Wall Township, over 300 people gathered Friday to stand up against racial injustice and fight for the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters met at Wall High School and marched down 18th street and Baileys Corner Road to gather at the Wall Township Municipal Complex. Mayor Orender, Police Chief Kenneth Brown, and others all spoke to address racism in their community. The protest remained peaceful and was an unprecedented movement for equality in the Wall community. This historic event was spurred by the efforts of one sole college student, Clarence Celius.

Clarence moved to Wall Township when he was in the first grade. He attended Wall Elementary School, Middle School, and High School. He grew up in the Mews at Collingswood Park with his two parents, who had immigrated from Haiti.

Clarence is not a veteran activist, but in fact, has no prior experience with activism at all, let alone with planning a major protest. Further, Clarence does not even live in Wall Township full-time anymore, but looked back on his own experiences growing up there thinking about one thing; his younger sisters. Clarence has two 12-year-old sisters, Rosalie and Rosaline, who currently attend Wall Township Middle School.

Clarence reflected on his own time in Wall elementary school, where he described “the air quality” being “filled with racism and discrimination.” When Clarence was only six years old, he vividly remembers attempting to form relationships with his white peers but struggling to cultivate friendships due to their parents disapproving of their children associating with a black child. These experiences have stuck with him throughout his entire life.

“How do I explain this to my younger sisters?” said Clarence, “What do they know about racism and discrimination, they shouldn’t have to know about that. I shouldn’t have to tell my sisters ‘hey listen, there are going to be people that are going to be mean to you because of the color of your skin’. We shouldn’t have to do that”.

According to the 2010 census, only 2.44% of the population is black, while 93.72% is white in Wall Township. As a black man growing up in Wall, Clarence spoke about a feeling that he didn’t belong. “In high school, it wasn’t like the community was against us, but it was just avibe”, said Clarence, “In school, my friends and I would have circles in the middle of the hallway, and it would just be all of the black kids, and white kids would just walk along past us.”

Wall is not only just a predominantly white community, but was also home to the former regional headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan. Today what is known as Camp Evans served as the regional headquarters for the KKK from 1925 to 1935. While the headquarters was eventually shut down and repurposed for World War II, the presence of the KKK remained strong in the community. Even decades after the closure, multiple instances of violent racism have occurred.

Growing up, Clarence felt the burden of Wall’s past and was aware of this history as early as the age of 14. As a player on Wall High School’s football team, a diligent student, and an active member of his community, Clarence felt “hurt” that he worked so hard on the field and in the classroom just to feel unappreciated and looked down upon by his community.

Newfound Community Support

Today’s protest marked a step in the right direction in terms of equality for Wall Township. “The support I am getting from the Wall community is so overwhelming and it’s a beautiful thing” said Clarence, “For the Wall Township community, I want to say that I love them, and I want to thank them for everything”.

While marching, Clarence stopped multiple times to ask police officers to take a knee with him to honor George Floyd, the man who recently died from a white police officer kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis. While many of the police officers joined Clarence and the protestors, a few resisted. Clarence’s high school football coach happened to be one of the officers who had refused to kneel until the crowd repeatedly chanted for him to kneel.

“He was my coach” said Clarence, “He taught me how to do certain things on the field, he always tried to make me a better player and then to see that he can’t support me now, that means he never supported me before. It’s not about football anymore, it’s about my life now”.

What Now for Wall?

Across the nation, citizens are crafting policies and advocating for actions to remedy America’s racial inequalities. Clarence believes there are concrete, immediate steps to be taken, starting with bringing more color to Wall. “We need to start hiring more black police officers to allow us to feel more comfortable”, said Clarence, “That would definitely be a start instead of just getting pulled over by a white male all of the time. If I can get pulled over by a black brother, hopefully, we can solve the issue together and he can tell me the mistake I made and I can say ‘oh officer thank you,’ and I won’t have to fear for my life every time I get pulled over.”

Clarence additionally said, “We need more black teachers that can relate to black people, and white people can learn a lot from black culture just as black people can learn a lot from white culture”. With actions like this, Clarence believes that a more welcoming atmosphere will be fostered in Wall for Black students and the community overall.

Student activism has been the backbone of movements throughout American history. It is brave and resilient students like Clarence, who channel their negative experiences with racism into positive action, and who have the drive to instill change in their communities.

“I’m Tired, We’re Tired” is the name that Clarence chose for this protest campaign, and it precisely sums up what is happening across the nation. Black community members in Wall Township and beyond are all tired of fighting for justice that has yet to come. But Clarence is not done fighting. “Change is coming”, said Clarence, “I am going to keep working. This won’t be my last project.”