Odds are, the deplorable, hateful vandalism on the statue outside Hatch Hall this weekend was intended to be an attention-grabbing and even revoltingly humorous act. Turns out nobody is laughing.
We cannot yet point the finger at a specific person, as the suspect in custody has the right of innocence before being proven guilty. However, even in the chance that the current suspect is not the perpetrator, the fact that this incident happened on MU soil still needs to be addressed.
We can’t even say that it’s been a year since the cotton ball incident — it’s been a little more than 11 months. That in itself is sad, but we can’t let these acts define who we collectively are as MU students. Instead of letting this act be applied to MU’s reputation, we should focus on the reactions of our fellow students and act together to ensure that we learn from this hate crime.
For a moment, let’s focus on how student leaders and student organizations, like the Legion of Black Collegians, the Missouri Students Association and Four Front, have stepped up to condemn this incident. Let’s focus on how the residents of Hatch gathered to show their opposition to the hateful vandalism. Let’s look at how quickly Residential Life removed the blasphemy from MU property.
Yet, there’s only so much the MU administration and students can do. After the cotton ball incident, we had town hall meetings, we had public condemnation. We had displays of unity, diversity and understanding. But look where we are now. The n-word was prominently sprawled across a statue less than a year later, and, though no connection has been proven, there was anti-Semitic vandalism discovered near campus on the same night. It’s truly sad, and it’s left many students feeling that any progress that might have been made last year in the wake of the cotton ball incident outside the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center was for nothing.
Despite students and administrators efforts, as a public university with a student population in the tens of thousands, MU is a portrait of American society: both the good and the bad. The problem is a societal one — racism still exists in today’s world. It’s not just a fight your parents had to be a part of, it’s a fight we’re still involved in.
But consider this: Every day, the small, individual interactions between students are what define us. Ostracizing the perpetrator won’t make the passing comments, the sneers or the covert discrimination go away. It won’t erase the memories of crimes of hate and prejudice committed on our campus, at our home, over the last year.
If we want to fix racism, we need to turn the focus back on ourselves. We need to do more to educate ourselves and our peers about how multiculturalism is a good thing. We need to step up to condemn discrimination, even in seemingly innocent forms. It’s not just the hateful crimes on a grander scale — involving graffiti or cotton balls — that damage our society. More often, it’s the unreported hurtful words, generalizations or stereotypes people are faced with every day.
Returning to the issue of education, we point to the proposed diversity education requirement awaiting final approval as one step in the right direction for the university. The initiative, which has always had some form of student support, has been in discussion and planning for seven years now, which, if you ask us, is too long.
Be assured of this much: There is no place at MU for the person responsible for the graffiti message. If the person behind the graffiti message is indeed an MU student, Chancellor Brady Deaton should make the executive decision to expel, not suspend, the culprit. We are 30,000 strong, and this person does not represent us.
