Snapchat messages<\/a> sent by some of Wells\u2019 friends, in which they appeared to discuss his disappearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/DSC03635-1024x683.jpg\")
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A protestor holds a sign reading \u201cJustice for Nolan\u201d during protest at the Florida State Capitol on Oct. 16 (Justin Jordan \/ The FAMUAN)<\/p>\n
Almost two weeks after the Capitol protest, FAMU\u2019s Student Government along with RISE Tallahassee, FAMU\u2019s chapter of the NAACP and FAMU\u2019s chapter of HBCU Incorporated, organized a walk-out on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The walk took place on Oct. 28, beginning at Polkinghorne Village dorms and ending at the eternal flame in front of Lee Hall Auditorium.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Devin Nobles Jr., a local community organizer who spoke at the walk, said he felt angry as he was delivering his speech, but concluded with a call to action encouraging those listening to vote and\u00a0hold people in power accountable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our job to actively create the world we want to live in,\u201d said Nobles.\u00a0\u201cIf you do nothing to create the reality that you experience, then you will forever be tied to somebody else\u2019s vision of the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few hours north of Florida A&M\u2019s Campus, Spelman College organized a walkout of their own with other Atlanta institutions, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vice president of Spelman College\u2019s NAACP, Akina Ma\u2019at, said they looked inward when it came to planning the walk. She asked herself what they could do and how they could bring attention to the case to show they cared.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was speaking at the march, I spoke of an African proverb that has been instilled in me, and it\u2019s, \u2018if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together,\u2019\u201d said Ma\u2019at when describing the message she hoped to send out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similar sentiments were shared by Harvard University student Sandra Smith-Johnson, the vice president of the Generational African American Students association at her school. Smith-Johnson said they collaborated with several organizations to carry out a walk on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been, obviously, this legacy of violence against the Black community, the African American community, for generations,\u201d said Smith-Johnson. \u201cAnd a lot of times, under the guise of acquittals or no true bills, the Black life is deemed inconsequential and unworthy of proper investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it\u2019s not a shock, but something needs to change is sort of where my mind was,\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These institutions were some of several that\u00a0held protests or walk-outs in response to the grand jury\u2019s decision and the official investigation process, which was made public throughout the months leading up to the no true bill.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the schools that hosted these demonstrations, many included a call to action at the end, encouraging attendees to\u00a0vote and speak to representatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/DSC04192-1024x683.jpg\")
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Protestors show passing cars a variety of signs during Oct. 16 protest at Florida Capitol (Justin Jordan \/ FAMUAN).<\/p>\n
Jeloni Doyle, a junior at Illinois State University and vice president of ISU\u2019s NAACP, said that in addition to the protest, they wanted to do something called \u201cBeyond the Headlines\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This included showing students how to write letters to their representatives, helping people get registered to vote and inviting journalists from local news outlets to talk to students about what they discovered when reporting on Wells\u2019 case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about it, we\u2019re all on one accord at a protest, and we\u2019re all asking ourselves, what can we do? What can we do? What can we do? What should we do?\u201d said Doyle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In\u00a0Mississippi, Jakari Holland, a community organizer and student at Jackson State University, organized a protest that received strong\u00a0support from students and local community members.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Holland said the protest wasn\u2019t just for Nolan, but also for other members of the Black community who recently lost their lives in the state of Mississippi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He listed Kohen Wiley, Trey Reed, Jaylen Lewis and Tasia Fortune as specific individuals they marched for, but called attention to the treatment of the Mississippi Black community as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMississippi has a long history that shapes how Black communities experience and understand institutions, especially when it comes to justice,\u201d said Holland. \u201cFor me, this was about more than one decision. It was about whether families can trust the institutions responsible for giving them answers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The series of\u00a0student protests across the country calls into question the impact of public demonstrations on court case outcomes\u00a0in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Annie Thompson,\u00a0a criminal justice professor at FAMU,\u00a0said she\u2019s worked in law enforcement and criminal justice for over 38 years and now teaches her experiences in the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Thompson shared she did not personally feel the case was handled completely, \u201cTypically when you do an investigation of that type, you want to cover everything so that you don\u2019t have more questions coming out than you had going in.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson also said that she believes public pushback can greatly impact the outcome of a case, but that efforts must remain consistent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t have the pushback strong for two weeks, and then it just stops. It\u2019s got to be a continual thing. The pressure has to be relentless,\u201d said Thompson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As students continue to walk, protest and voice their concerns about the handling of the case, the family of Nolan Wells and their legal representative, Benjamin Crump, continue pushing for more answers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney, recently released a statement<\/a> regarding their pursuit\u00a0of\u00a0answers in response to a public comment made by President Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cSunday will mark 100 days since we have been looking into the death of Nolan Wells, so when President Trump responds to news reporters that \u2018we\u2019re looking into it,\u2019 we believe that carries more weight than the response given by the FBI,\u201d said Crump on his official website. \u201cOur team stands ready to work with the federal government to ensure Nolan\u2019s death is investigated to the fullest extent.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A common sentiment expressed by students from these institutions emphasized follow-up steps once the demonstrations were over that encouraged students to become civically engaged.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA protest should not be the end of a conversation about injustice,\u201d said Holland, who organized his school\u2019s protest. \u201cIt should be the beginning of what we are willing to do to change it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A student holds a sign reading \u201c#My Life Matters\u201d during protest at the Florida State Capitol on Oct.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-446672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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