On Sept. 12, Missouri Students Association President Payton Head posted a Facebook status chronicling multiple incidents of discrimination around campus. Head said in the post that he was walking down a street Friday night when a group of men in the back of a pickup truck repeatedly yelled racial obscenities at him. Read his post below:
_“WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE: I just want to say how extremely hurt and disappointed I am. Last night as I walking through campus, some guys riding on the back of a pickup truck decided that it would be okay to continuously scream NIGGER at me. I really just want to know why my simple existence is such a threat to society. For those of you who wonder why I’m always talking about the importance of inclusion and respect, it’s because I’ve experienced moments like this multiple times at THIS university, making me not feel included here. Many of you are so privileged that you’ll never know what it feels like to be a hijab-wearing Muslim woman and be called a terrorist or a towel head. You don’t have to think about being transgender and worrying about finding a restroom where you can go and not be targeted for violence because you don’t fit into the gender binary. You’ll never know what it feels like to see Memorial Union every day and enter the side like a second-class citizen because after 90 years, there’s still no accessible way to enter the tower. You’ve never been spit on walking down 9th street or mis-gendered at Pizza Tree because they called out your birth name. You’ve never had to experience people throwing drinks on you and yelling FAGGOT at you from the patio at Big 12 as you walk past on the street holding hands with your partner. You might never had to think twice about what you’re wearing walking around campus at night so that someone won’t think it’s okay to take ownership of your body because your outfit was “asking for it.” If your simple existence is not a political statement I’m really going to need for you to check your privilege. These are some of my experiences and the experiences of the ones closest to me. This is what I’m fighting against every day in boardrooms, conferences, meetings, classrooms, the Capitol, and in my daily life. This is my reality. Is it weird that I think that I have the right to feel safe here too? If you see violence like this and don’t say anything, you, yes YOU, are a part of the problem. It’s the reason why It’s On Us, Black Lives Matter, Trans Rights are Human Rights, and love is fucking love. If you want to fight for social change at Mizzou there are so many different outlets. Apply to be a Diversity Peer Educator, stop by any of our wonderful centers of social justice. Educate yourselves and others. Hold your family, friends, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters accountable. And if this post made you feel uncomfortable, GOOD! That means I’m doing my job. It’s time to wake up Mizzou.
Your Nigger/Faggot Missouri Students Association President,
Payton Head”_
So, were you surprised? We weren’t, and that fact alone should be concerning to everyone from MU administrators to faculty and staff to students. If you consider yourself to be part of the MU community, the discrimination detailed in Payton’s post should bother you because our university should aim higher.
Since [the beginning of Head’s term](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/2/3/head-begins-term-msa-president/), he has said experiences like these are what drew him to leadership in the first place. And now he’s using his position as MSA president, the pinnacle of student leadership at MU, to sound the alarm about campus discrimination, which goes beyond race. In his post, he gave voice to the voiceless, the marginalized students who experience social injustices and outright bigotry on a daily basis.
But Payton’s term ends this year. Someone will have to take up the cause. Our student leadership has done a lot — administration, it’s time to do your part.
Changing campus culture takes time. In order to progress, our student government cannot be the only group talking about social justice issues. We need to have meaningful participation from administrators.
After all, MSA presidents serve one year in office and students generally graduate after four. Administrators, though, have much longer tenures. Our administration owes it our students to respond and _do something_.
We have some ideas: Increase faculty diversity, conduct a survey, and establish a plan. Increase awareness and accessibility of reporting hate crimes with MU Police Department. Take Head’s suggestion and support the Diversity Peer Educator program and the social justice centers. Or you can always follow through on [your promise](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/4/30/administrators-give-race-relations-update-answer-s/) to host monthly forums on race relations.
It’s imperative that Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin or another equally visible administrator issue a formal response to this incident as a show of support, but more importantly, as a reminder that someone is paying attention.
After all, a post like that from any MU student should elicit shock, not a shrug. We were dismayed when we read it, but we wish we had been blindsided — that would mean our campus is one where discrimination no longer lurks around every street corner.
To paraphrase another one of Head’s posts: Have you had enough, MU?