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American Students Show Solidarity for Hong Kong Protestors

From college paper editorials to hashtag campaigns, American students showed up in force today to support pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
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China's National Day marked a defining moment for the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong, but it also inspired a call to action among their student counterparts across America.

What began as a Facebook campaign by a Harvard University student Heather Pickerell, asking supporters to "Wear Yellow for Hong Kong" on October 1st, bloomed into a cross-college movement, encompassing more than 40 schools in the U.S. and Canada, with more than 37,000 pledging attendance. Students organized rallies, yellow ribbon distributions, and social campaigns on Twitter and Tumblr to amass displays of solidarity.

Pickerell, who reportedly spent much of her childhood growing up in Hong Kong, is also on the editorial staff of The Harvard Crimson, the university's paper. This morning, they published a piece encouraging fellow students to "Rock the Yellow."

"You may notice an unusual influx of yellow in people's wardrobes today," the editorial read. "This isn't simply a fashion statement...It's time for the world to stop ignoring China's abhorrent human rights record."

Christina Wong, a junior at Davenport College, wrote a guest column for the Yale Daily News, imploring others to, "Today, Wear Yellow."

"Even if you may not know much about Hong Kong politics," Wong wrote, "it will be a powerful sign if college students across the country show their belief in the importance of democracy by wearing yellow."

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--Amna Nawaz