By Blake Haas and Neil Doyle
BLOOMINGTON – Hundreds of people gathered in the twin-cites on Friday to hold a demonstration and march for late Illinois State University student Jelani Day.
Rev. Jesse Jackson and members of his PUSH Coalition joined hand-in-hand to march with Carmen Bolden-Day, Jelani’s mother, and others through downtown Bloomington to ISU’s campus.
“I need answers,” Bolden-Day said in front of the Bloomington Police Department. “I need to know what happened to Jelani. Because it could of been any of you. You all are ISU students, some of you. You are parents of students and nobody would won’t to get up send their child, I don’t care how old they are, that’s my baby. And I let him go to school here. He wanted to go to school here, he wanted to go to school far away, and I talked him into coming to Bloomington.”
Jelani Day was found dead in the Illinois River on Sept. 4 in Peru. The LaSalle County Coroner says the cause of death was drowning with no signs of foul play.
“I never thought that I would be here today requesting that y’all help me demand justice for my son,” Bolden-Day added. “Jelani didn’t do this to himself. He did not get in his car; he did not drive all the way to Peru and park his car; he did not get out of that car and go to a riverbank, he did not go to a riverbank and take off his clothes, and he did not put himself in no water.
So somebody here at the University, one of y’all, somebody seen Jelani that day. Jelani wasn’t no ghost.”
Authorities are still investigating the case, and anyone with information is encouraged to contact Bloomington or Peru police.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected]
Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected].
