On the 20th of September, a racial slur was tagged on the side of an academic building, and people aren’t talking about it. Specifically the people that should be. The higher ups at the university keep referring to the “diversity” of campus and how horrible it is that a racist remark was tagged on campus. That’s all well and good, but no one is talking about why it happened in the first place.
A professor whose office is in King Hall, the building that was tagged, stated that in the morning he walked past the wall and there was no tag. That means that at some point between 7 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. when it was discovered, someone spray painted a racist slur on a building and no one noticed or said something about it. Someone felt comfortable enough that no one would say anything to them about spray painting a racial slur on the side of an academic building on a bright fall morning. Why does someone feel comfortable doing that?
EMU students protesting at the EMU - Wyoming game on the 24th.
In the wake of this, students decided to march in protest and took over Washtenaw Avenue, a large street that runs next to the university and into Ann Arbor. In doing so they caused a traffic jam, and one SUV decided to take matters into their own hands and push through the crowd and be on their way. Regardless of what you think about marches blocking traffic, there is no excuse in using a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds against humans with no defense. They sat outside EMU’s President’s house until he came outside to talk with them about what the university could do in response to it. Since then, more racist graffiti was found in a residence hall on campus and campus police have started combing through security camera videos in the hopes of finding the culprit. There is even a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person/people responsible.
The tension on campus is palpable. Even as I am writing this article there is a Black Lives Matter protest going on at the football game less than a mile from my apartment. At the beginning of the game the protest was in the stands, and at half time moved closer to the field, and closer still after the game ended to gain the attention and time of cameras at the event. It should be mentioned that this was a peaceful protest.
Black Lives Matter protest at EMU football stadium. Credit: Julia Leake.
Speaking of my apartment, I live on the top floor. After coming home from class on the 20th, there was a child throwing a tantrum in the hallway of the floor below mine. His father is a single father and was obviously exasperated with him. The child wanted to go outside and play with his friends, but the father just kept saying he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to play outside because it wasn’t safe. A child was forbidden from doing what children do because my town was turned into a war zone by racist and supremacist ideology.
Among the other EMU Odyssey Creators, we were debating if this was something we could talk about. We are white, and we didn't want to monopolize the conversations surrounding something that by and large, didn't threaten us. It wasn't an attack on our existence, no matter how uneasy or wary it made us feel on campus, no matter our concern for friends or other campus dwellers. Through talking about it, and realizing not saying anything is worse, here we are. This is important. This needs to be talked about. This needs to be handled appropriately. If we don’t converse on this, if we let this be swept under the rug, we risk upholding societal structures that put some people, in this case the black community, in a category that somehow makes them lesser based entirely on the ridiculous thought that their skin color holds merit to them as humans. Spread love, not hate. Hate will never triumph if we don’t let it. Refuse to hate.
Black Lives Matter. Full stop.
Fellow Eagles, I now speak directly to you. Should you need someone to talk to about everything going on on campus as of late here is the contact information for CAPS. Use it and stay safe, friends.
Counseling and Psychological Services
313 Snow Health Center
(734)-487-1118
