The afternoon of Tues., Nov. 18, students of Lewis & Clark College learned about violent posts, promoting racism, on a social media app called Yik Yak. The "yaks" were threatening to students of color, and many encouraged the return of slavery. Upon hearing the news, students quickly became repulsed. Early the next morning, students held a sit in outside the academic building to show their support of the black community. Many professors chose to cancel their classes, so that students wouldn't feel guilty about participating in the protest against racism.
During the event, students (and some faculty) sat in small groups and discussed the effects of racism on campus and out in the rest of the world. People shared thoughts, experiences, artwork, poetry, and much more.
Posters and flyers were posted around campus with screenshots of the "yaks" along with comments like "Black Lives Matter" and "This is your community."
Those posters were put up to encourage protest against racism and to get students to recognize that racism exists and makes an impact everywhere.
When I saw the flyer with racist comments written over by "This is your community," I became repulsed and filled with anger, but not for the reasons you'd expect.
By definition, a community is a social group of people that share common characteristics, interests, or cultures. It is not necessarily a group that lives in the same location. It's deeper and more complex than that.
Yes, the Yik Yakers may have been a student at Lewis and Clark. Yes, their comments were cruel, unjustified, and threatening to the lives of certain students. And yes, they should be punished for their actions.
However, almost immediately after those hateful words were posted, Lewis and Clark students and faculty rushed to protect and support the safety of those who were threatened.
Yet, when I saw their hateful words written over with the sentence "This is your community," I couldn't bring myself to believe it.
Why?
Because I looked around me. The students proudly standing up for their fellow classmates, the faculty members canceling their classes and encouraging protest involvement, the people sitting outside in the cold for hours to show their support for students of color, and even the students who chose to go to class and not let a few hateful racists negatively affect their education--those people were our community.
These people are our community.
While I am disappointed (and frankly disgusted) by the actions of some of my classmates, I know they are not the definition of our community.
Our community is one that comes together as one voice against racism and violent comments.
