More than 100 students gathered at Stankowski Field on Friday to end the use of what the Mizzou Unity Coalition calls the R-word.
The Walk to End the Word was the last event in the organization’s first Spread the Word to End the Word awareness week. Events during the week included brown bag lunch discussions and End the Word Pledge day, which was a national event.
“The organization started after an ASB (Alternative Spring Break) group went to Charleston, South Carolina, in 2011,” Mizzou Unity Coalition spokeswoman Chelsea Ledgerwood said. “They volunteered with the Special Olympics and student organization there. They saw how the community was so united with the ‘disabled community’ and saw the impact the student organization had on the community and the unity of it, so they brought back these ideas to Mizzou.”
The organization, which began in May 2011, aims to raise awareness about the consequences of calling someone a retard, which they refer to as the R-word.
“We want this event to make people think before they speak because the R-word is a very hurtful word,” Ledgerwood said.
The effort was not only extended to students at MU, though.
“The event is not only for the college community but for the outside community as well,” Ledgerwood said. “We have invited all the Special Olympics athletes and People First of Columbia, just to name a few.”
Students who attended the event said signing the pledge and participating in the walk made them think twice about using the word in everyday conversation.
“It really is a hurtful word,” sophomore Ryan Dickey said. “I mean, if I was handicapped and people were using the R-word around me I would be really offended. I don’t want to make other people feel uncomfortable.”
Some students who attended the event said the choice to stop using the word was a personal one.
“I have a few friends who are special education majors, and until they got into that field I really didn’t think much about using the word,” junior Brittni Kinney said. “Once I was able to see what they deal with and what kinds of hardships having a handicap brings. They are a part of the coalition and encouraged me to come, and I was happy to go. It’s such a passive word and so unnecessary to use, especially to degrade other people. It’s wrong and I’m very passionate about raising awareness now.”
Ledgerwood said the main goal of the event is to have people agree to electronically sign the pledge to end the word and raise awareness to the issue at hand.
“We really want to make sure people know what they are saying before they say it,” she said. “There are so many times when people just say things without thinking that lead to a lot of pain and emotional damage to people, no matter who they are or what their background is. The word is wrong and people have to think before they say it.”