In case anyone needed an un-friendly reminder that racism is still a huge problem in our society, here it is: Eastern Michigan University students are protesting after staff discovered “KKK” and “Leave N*****s” spray-painted onto a campus building yesterday morning.
According to BuzzFeed News, an EMU employee noticed the vandalism on Tuesday morning, and called the police to report it soon after.
Students protested the incident on Tuesday. According to the Detroit Free Press, a crowd of more than 150 people marched to the home of the university’s president James Smith, who addressed the crowd along with some other campus officials.
Smith also released a statement following the incident, saying that “The University strongly condemns such a racist and thoughtless act, which runs completely counter to the values and welcoming environment of our highly diverse Eastern Michigan University community. Our Department of Public Safety is undertaking a full and immediate investigation, and the graffiti has been quickly removed.”
The statement went on to say that officials hoped surveillance cameras located near the scene would provide some answers about who was involved.
Many students were not satisfied with Smith’s response, saying that the school needs to commit to taking serious action against racism on campus.
They agreed to take down the graffiti but what about addressing the fact someone felt comfortable enough to put that on there.
— Darius Simpson (@Wordplay4Days) September 20, 2016
Janeé, a senior at EMU who spoke to BuzzFeed News, said she is not happy with the way black students are treated at the school.
“We’re hurt,” she said. “We pay for our education just like everyone else, so to see something like that in the morning on our way to class it’s caused outrage and pain…The black community at Eastern is phenomenal and all we want is to be treated like every other race here at Eastern.”