MUNCIE, Ind. — Ishmael El-Amin is standing on a stage not far from Ball State University’s Shafer Tower, a microphone in his hand, at a loss for words.
There he was, not long after 5 p.m. on Thursday, in front of a sprawling mass of people that would grow from hundreds to an estimated 2,000-3,000 over the course of the evening. There he was, at the beginning of a peaceful protest that would start at the tower and end at Muncie’s City Hall, looking out at a crowd that arrived for a protest he helped organize. And the 21-year-old, a star guard for the university’s basketball team, could only bring himself to tell everyone he promises they don’t know how much them being there means to him.