A small but passionate group of about 10 protestors sat on the lawn of the Drill Field at Mississippi State University on a blue and cloudy Wednesday afternoon. 
Cat Morris, the sit-in’s organizer, said she made a promise to herself that she would protest if the jury pronounced Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty. A little over two weeks ago, the court acquitted Rittenhouse of his charges, and Morris kept her promise and started garnering support for a protest.
“Before (the Rittenhouse verdict) was released, I said, ‘If he gets acquitted of everything, I’m going to organize something’ because it just literally did not make sense to me,” Morris said. “And then he was acquitted of everything, and I wanted to keep my word to myself, and I honestly immediately started organizing this.”
Morris is a student athlete, and she used her connections with the D-9 organizations along with the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center to promote the sit-in. Social media, GroupMe and word-of-mouth also spread the news.
“More than anything, I just want to educate people,” Morris said. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation when it comes to white supremacy and white privilege specifically, especially in this Rittenhouse case … I wanted to spread information and let people know that in America, white people do have a position of privilege.”
Sitting criss-cross on the ground, attendees talked among themselves about current events until Katrina called their attention to her. Katrina began a call-and-answer chant of “no justice, no peace,” and the group loudly chanted in unison. Though the protestors were sitting, they attracted attention to themselves, and some passersby gave the group lingering glances as the “end white supremacy” chants filled the autumn air. 
Isaiah Mcswain, a protest attendee and senior at MSU, said he attended the sit-in to raise awareness at the university and call attention to the importance of students, especially students of color.
“We’re here. We exist. And we matter,” McSwain said.
As the sun peeked through the clouds, the protestors conversed about the ways they saw racism inherently in the system of schools and housing. Protest organizer Morris stood up and spoke to the group about her experience with racism as a Black woman and offered resources for attendees to utilize. 
Rebekah Malone, a senior at MSU, said although she was valedictorian at her high school, she received few college acceptance letters.
“It was very difficult for me to get into college,” Malone said. “And I didn’t realize how ridiculous that was until I got here, and I was like, ‘Wait a second.’”
Malone continued to say that she had to fight to be valedictorian and attend MSU. She said she did not realize how easy it was for other students to apply to college.
The group of about 10 people sat and mingled on the Drill Field for over an hour that afternoon. Although peaceful, the meaning of their protest was powerful, attendees said.
Mcswain offered his key takeaway from Wednesday’s sit-in. 
“Every small change has a major impact, so even a simple conversation can really lead to change, political change, society change. So just remember, you don’t have to think that you can’t change the world; just coming out and supporting changes the world,” Mcswain said.