Whether you’ve been following the news through mainstream media or through the Twitter accounts of the brave Mizzou students, you’ve probably heard of the recent events surrounding The University of Missouri.
In September, black students reported hate speech, discrimination and feeling unwanted at their own university, leading to multiple “Racism Lives Here” rallies, where protesters chanted “White silence is violence, no justice no peace,” in response to university officials’ silence in regards to the students’ complaints. These protests continued through September and October, leading up to another incident that made big headlines, and for good reason.
On October 24, a swastika drawn in feces was found smeared on the floor and wall of a bathroom of an on-campus residence hall. A similar incident occurred earlier this year. Tensions rose even higher on campus, among students and especially toward university president Timothy Wolfe, who eventually resigned from his position as a result of the football team’s boycott on November 8. These incidents, while seemingly random and recent, are actually connected to many others.
2015 isn’t the first year that Mizzou has been in the news for racial tension. In 2010, two white students scattered cotton balls outside the campus’ Black Culture Center, and who can forget the heartbreaking Michael Brown shooting in August of last year?
The racism that the students at Mizzou have so bravely stood up against is a clear example of the systematic racial discrimination that still exists in society. It is one that should be making headlines every day to show the reality of the life of a minority student, and it should potentially help give us a voice—a roaring, resounding, powerful voice. This is the voice that finally held Timothy Wolfe accountable for his inaction, helped prosecute a white male for anonymously posting racist, anti-black threats on Yik-Yak, and the same voice calling out an entire country for suggesting that racism i a thing of the past, when it is clearly very much alive.
The media reports that have been driving this movement forward for the past few months have been successful in gaining supporters, but it is important to remember that these incidents are not exclusive to one college campus alone. Even here at Florida State University, racism lives. Every minority student experiences racism, whether it’s direct or indirect, from strangers or from their best friends. We like to believe that the fight against racism ended at the close of the civil rights movement in the late sixties, but the truth is that we are still fighting the same battle every day.
On November 17, International Students’ Day, the FSU chapter of Students For a Democratic Society will be holding an outdoor presentation at the free speech zone between the Oglesby Union and HCB. The presentation will hope to show FSU’s support for the #StandWithMizzou movement that has been taking over social media following the recent on campus events. According to SDS’s Facebook page, they will “talk about the history of the student movement, the struggle for education rights and the continuation of these struggles at FSU.” The presentation will take place at 1 p.m.
Courtesy: Students for a Democratic Society
Together we can use the voice we’ve been given to continue fighting the battle against racism. We can speak up when our friends make a racist remark in passing and we can join clubs and organizations that aim to educate our community about our culture and how to respect it. But most importantly we should never forget that even if the world tells us otherwise, we have a place in it. We belong.