By: Elena Maldonado and Mazzie 

Media By: Akeel Johnson 

Wednesday March 28, 2018 at 9 a.m. criminal justice professor, Dr. Eddy Lynton, along with his sociology class held a peaceful protest in front of the Eunice and James L. West Library. The protest consisted of two groups, The Smilies lead by sophomore criminal justice major Elijah Meyer and The Reals lead by Shanice Evans, senior Sociology major. The protest lasted for one hour as each group tried to get their point across.

The smiles argued that, people should be happy no matter what they are going through in their daily lives. During the protest The Smiles chanted “express not suppress” in hopes to the change the perspective of The Reals. At this time, The Reals replied back with chants like “Anger is an emotion that should be expressed.”

At 11:30 a.m., the two group leaders came to an agreement that individuals should be able to express how they feel in a healthy way.

“We realized that we both had valid points, but we were missing something at the end-we were very extreme in our protest,” said Evans. “Eventually we came to the conclusion that we want people to express their emotions both good and bad.”

Smilie member and junior sociology major, Ebony Hicks believes that the agreement between the two groups is very much needed because they are both trying to spread the same message. She agreed with the decisions the leaders made. Although there will not be any more protests regarding emotions the group still has other protest in the works.

“Happiness is a choice, it’s an individual choice,” said Hicks.” I don’t think there will be another protest like this one, but there will be others in the future.

Meyers said she agreed with Evans on the matter that both groups have the right to express any emotion they may have.

“She brought up some good points at the beginning –it’s hard to argue with logic that she is passionate about so I took the time to listen to her,” Meyers said. “Listening to her opened my mind up. I found out that there was a lack of communication in trying to spread the same message, which is express how you feel.”

The leader concluded their agreement with a handshake and a hug.