Circulating through social media for the past 24 hours, a picture of two girls on a snapchat story, both Kansas State students at the time of the picture, wearing a black mask, posing with an apparent gang sign accompanied with the caption, “feels good to finally be a nigga” with a laughing emoji. As a result of the picture, Kansas State has made the choice to expel both students in the picture, and released a statement condemning her actions: “The posts were immediately removed from university accounts. Kansas State University does not condone this inappropriate behavior and expects the K-State family to adhere to our principles of community.” Paige Shoemaker, the girl who posted the picture also released a statement, “We never intended for the picture to offend anyone. We had only meant for it to be taken in a funny way." Her statement is so troubling and it explains WHY racism has and will continue to persist in the United States until the issue is addressed.

Let me get this point across, there is no such thing as a racist joke. There is nothing funny about it. People die because they are black. The fact that someone orchestrates a picture like that, captions “feels good to finally be a nigga” and poses with a gang related hand sign is honestly disturbing. The picture associates being a “nigga” to gang related activity; it further perpetuates the idea that black people are criminals, and that is disheartening. There will be people who will say that it is not a big deal, that people need to stop being so sensitive and not let something like this have an affect are equally part of the problem.

Kansas State University’s statement is equally troubling, the statement, just like Shoemaker’s fails to address the actual problem at hand, expelling Shoemaker is bold, but they could have taken this situation to open a dialogue and address racism and its different forms. Racism did not end with the emancipation proclamation, it did not end with the Civil Rights Act, it did not end with the election of Barack Obama, and it certainly is a problem today. Just because there is not slavery, lynchings’ or Jim Crow laws, does not mean that racism is over. There are multiple forms of racism. Racism can be systematic, associating behavior with a race, and I know there are people who call black people white, and white people black because they act in a certain way; that is racism. You all know exactly what I am talking about. In order to eradicate racism, we need to be honest with ourselves, and instead of getting defensive and uncomfortable, we need to acknowledge that it is a problem. Feeling uncomfortable when talking about racism is a lot better than feeling uncomfortable when people stereotype you, make you feel like your life and other members of your race is not of equal value.