Eastern Michigan won their third game of the season on Friday night, beating Wyoming 27-24. However, the play on the field wasn't what garnered attention about this game. Instead, it was a group of protesters present throughout the game, and their marching onto the field following the game's conclusion.
Photo credit: SB Nation
According to SB Nation, the protesters took the field in response to an incident on Eastern Michigan's campus this past week. The incident saw racist graffiti spray-painted on a University building, which sparked student protests throughout campus for the past few days.
On Friday, those protests came to light on television, as the protesters gathered at the game and reportedly had to be encouraged to stay off the field and the surrounding track while the game was underway.
The group was reportedly peaceful throughout the game, and they eventually marched onto the field after the game. Eastern Michigan president James Smith said during the broadcast that the group was upset that no progress had been made on finding a perpetrator in the graffiti incident.
The protest at Eastern Michigan comes in the wake of nationwide protests over the last month due to concerns about racial inequality and police brutality. Several NFL players, led by San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick, have been protesting during pre-game national anthems to much controversy. The protests increased nationally after separate police shootings involving African-American men occurred in Tulsa and Charlotte.
Eastern Michigan's next home game will be on Oct. 8 against Toledo. If the University hasn't made any progress on the graffiti incident by that date, then we can probably expect another protest from the school's students.
