There have been some negative comments concerning [my letter to Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/9/30/chancellor-loftin-out-touch-issue-race-relations/), so let me get one thing straight before I continue. Thank you, Chancellor, for the truly caring steps you’ve chosen to take in this case. Many students have expressed their gratitude and appreciation for how the situation was handled.

For those of you who are asking if I believe that the Chancellor is responsible for the 35,441 students enrolled in MU as of 2014, the answer is yes, I do. Much like a parent is responsible for the actions of their children, so is Loftin. Much like a teacher, Loftin is responsible for the actions of the students enrolled in his class.

In school, it doesn’t matter how they graded daily behavior, your teacher was still responsible for recording and taking action to correct your behavior. And much the same, that is Loftin’s job. This week, through the Legion of Black Collegians, our students have taken actions to remember our roots and the struggles that we have, are, and will endure as a people.

Even outside these events, we were reminded by those that wish to challenge us of these very same things. And I must say that we were constantly reminded of our misplacement, of how silly the things we were doing were, whether you were told to “Go back to Africa” or had your opinions aggressively challenged, or whether you simply decided to march during the Uplift event.

Speaking of the Uplift event — it was beautiful. It was charged with emotional release and special remembrance. However, during the event, people were using Yik Yak to express their true opinions behind anonymous social media walls.

The mandatory discrimination course that each student will go through starting January 2016 is a step, but a step to something I fear can never be fully corrected, because these thoughts and opinions are so deeply ingrained in these few, I fear they’ll never be able to separate themselves from the influences of their past.

Not every person can be stopped from expressing their opinions, but let us be clear that these recent events are not anomalies in the MU community. People hold these views frequently and feel completely comfortable with expressing them because they believe that they’re right.