Nov. 12, 2015
Mizzou Demands Change With Protest
by THS Media Jazzmin Matchette
There lacks a significant amount of social change occurring from those who are unaffected by systematic oppression. With this being said, as a bystander it’s easy to justify the idea that racism ceases to exist in an era where there is a black president, or where black people can walk into the same bathroom as a white person. Yet, despite the fact that they are yet to witness first hand racism doesn’t mean that it suddenly dissipated since segregation was heavily enforced, which mind you was only half a century ago.
A majority of the people who control the system that we have now, were white, alive and flourishing during segregation. So is it so hard to believe that those baby boomers didn’t completely forget their racist ideology from ‘back in the good ol’ days?’ The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so with the next two generations to follow, (gen x and the millennials) racism has shown itself to be a generational curse. While racism has began to lack blatancy amongst the general public, it’s turned into the most commonly used and misunderstood term, systematic oppression.
This is exactly what the University of Missouri students have been protesting over the course of the last several months. A university where racism exists in all forms. The timeline of events that led up to the outburst amongst the students is both a horrific and unsurprising one. Yet, what better place for social change that amongst our youth, the same people capable of breaking the cycle of systematic oppression once and for all.
The string of events that led up to the protest began in 2010 when two white students spread cotton balls outside of the University's Black Cultural center, following a similar racial account several years later. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, in April, white students used ashes to draw a swastika on campus, Oct 24. another swastika was drawn but with human feces on the wall of a residence hall. Two weeks prior to that, a drunken white student disrupted a Black student group, the Legion of Black Collegians, while they were preparing for homecoming activities. When asked to leave, he shouted racial slurs.
"Not only did this individual disrupt our rehearsal, but we were also made victims of blatant racism in a space that we should be made to feel safe," Legion of Black Collegians said.
Missouri Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement the next day, saying, “Racism is clearly alive at Mizzou, what we have done is not enough. Every member of our community must help us change our culture," Loftin said.
Yet, it wasn’t an increase of hate crimes and prejudice that caused the students to speak up, but rather an increase in a call for social justice from Payton Head, the student body president at Mizzou spoke to CNN saying, “We are not seeing more incidents, what we are seeing is students who are empowered to speak about these incidents on their campuses around the nation. The University of Missouri is by no means, a bad school. What we’re seeing right here is that students are empowered to speak up about what is happening here and empowering other students around the nation to speak up about what is happening on their campuses as well.”
Due to the blatant accounts of prejudice not being enough for Mizzou’s system president, Tim Wolfe, to take initiative, Legion of Black Collegians made a list of of demands for the school.
“We demand that University of Missouri System President, Tim Wolfe, writes a handwritten apology to Concerned Student 1-9-5-0 demonstrators and holds a press conference in the Mizzou Student Center reading the letter. In the letter and at the press conference, Tim Wolfe must acknowledge his white privilege, recognize that systems of oppression exist, and provide a verbal commitment to fulfilling Concerned Student 1-9-5-0 demands. We want Tim Wolfe to admits his gross negligence, allowing his driver to hit one of the demonstrators, consenting to the physical violence of bystanders, and lastly refusing to intervene when Columbia Police Department used excessive force with demonstrators,” according to the first demand.
After weeks of continuous protesting the students were able to get Wolf and the chancellor to resign, only to receive criticism from the general public about their removal.
Presidential Republican candidate Ben Carson said the resignations are a sign of the "politically correct police" going too far.
Donald Trump stated that he thinks their removal is “Disgusting. I think the two people who resigned are weak, ineffective people,” along with the belief that the students demands for change are, “crazy.”
When asked what he thinks systematic oppression is during a protest amongst the Missouri students Wolf responded, “Systematic oppression is because you believe that you don’t have the equal opportunity for success.” Once again, dismissing the students concerns by indirectly blaming them for the oppression that they face.
This goes to show, that it’s not your color that demonstrates how blind you are to current systematic racism, oppression and institutionalization but your lack of first hand experience. While the bystander may not be racist, that doesn’t mean that racism disappeared within our country in it’s entirety. It’s a very black and white situation, that Missouri students and protesters all over the country have began to rise up against in hopes of educating those who are socially blind to today’s prejudice.
A majority of the people who control the system that we have now, were white, alive and flourishing during segregation. So is it so hard to believe that those baby boomers didn’t completely forget their racist ideology from ‘back in the good ol’ days?’ The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so with the next two generations to follow, (gen x and the millennials) racism has shown itself to be a generational curse. While racism has began to lack blatancy amongst the general public, it’s turned into the most commonly used and misunderstood term, systematic oppression.
This is exactly what the University of Missouri students have been protesting over the course of the last several months. A university where racism exists in all forms. The timeline of events that led up to the outburst amongst the students is both a horrific and unsurprising one. Yet, what better place for social change that amongst our youth, the same people capable of breaking the cycle of systematic oppression once and for all.
The string of events that led up to the protest began in 2010 when two white students spread cotton balls outside of the University's Black Cultural center, following a similar racial account several years later. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, in April, white students used ashes to draw a swastika on campus, Oct 24. another swastika was drawn but with human feces on the wall of a residence hall. Two weeks prior to that, a drunken white student disrupted a Black student group, the Legion of Black Collegians, while they were preparing for homecoming activities. When asked to leave, he shouted racial slurs.
"Not only did this individual disrupt our rehearsal, but we were also made victims of blatant racism in a space that we should be made to feel safe," Legion of Black Collegians said.
Missouri Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement the next day, saying, “Racism is clearly alive at Mizzou, what we have done is not enough. Every member of our community must help us change our culture," Loftin said.
Yet, it wasn’t an increase of hate crimes and prejudice that caused the students to speak up, but rather an increase in a call for social justice from Payton Head, the student body president at Mizzou spoke to CNN saying, “We are not seeing more incidents, what we are seeing is students who are empowered to speak about these incidents on their campuses around the nation. The University of Missouri is by no means, a bad school. What we’re seeing right here is that students are empowered to speak up about what is happening here and empowering other students around the nation to speak up about what is happening on their campuses as well.”
Due to the blatant accounts of prejudice not being enough for Mizzou’s system president, Tim Wolfe, to take initiative, Legion of Black Collegians made a list of of demands for the school.
“We demand that University of Missouri System President, Tim Wolfe, writes a handwritten apology to Concerned Student 1-9-5-0 demonstrators and holds a press conference in the Mizzou Student Center reading the letter. In the letter and at the press conference, Tim Wolfe must acknowledge his white privilege, recognize that systems of oppression exist, and provide a verbal commitment to fulfilling Concerned Student 1-9-5-0 demands. We want Tim Wolfe to admits his gross negligence, allowing his driver to hit one of the demonstrators, consenting to the physical violence of bystanders, and lastly refusing to intervene when Columbia Police Department used excessive force with demonstrators,” according to the first demand.
After weeks of continuous protesting the students were able to get Wolf and the chancellor to resign, only to receive criticism from the general public about their removal.
Presidential Republican candidate Ben Carson said the resignations are a sign of the "politically correct police" going too far.
Donald Trump stated that he thinks their removal is “Disgusting. I think the two people who resigned are weak, ineffective people,” along with the belief that the students demands for change are, “crazy.”
When asked what he thinks systematic oppression is during a protest amongst the Missouri students Wolf responded, “Systematic oppression is because you believe that you don’t have the equal opportunity for success.” Once again, dismissing the students concerns by indirectly blaming them for the oppression that they face.
This goes to show, that it’s not your color that demonstrates how blind you are to current systematic racism, oppression and institutionalization but your lack of first hand experience. While the bystander may not be racist, that doesn’t mean that racism disappeared within our country in it’s entirety. It’s a very black and white situation, that Missouri students and protesters all over the country have began to rise up against in hopes of educating those who are socially blind to today’s prejudice.