RACIST MESSAGES WERE FOUND ON BANANAS AROUND A
TRADITIONALLY BLACK SORORITY AT AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY.
THEY FOUND BANANAS HANGING FROM NEW SINNERS, AND IT SAID
KKK, AND THIS IS JUST STUPID BEHAVIOR.
FOLKS WERE ASKING WHAT HAPPENED?
WHY DID THIS HAPPEN THIS DAY?
IT COINCIDED WITH THE FIRST DAY OF THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT
ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT TAYLOR DUMPS IN, THE FIRST
AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO BE THE STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT OVER
AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY.
THERE WAS A STATEMENT MADE BY THE SCHOOL'S PRESIDENT
SAYING THE FOLLOWING, "KNOW THAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY REMAINS
COMMITTED TO PENCILS OF DIVERSITY, INCLUSION,
COMMON COURTESY AND HUMAN DIGNITY, AND ACTS OF
BIGOTRY ONLY STRENGTHEN OUR RESOLVE."
THEY ALSO TWEETED OUT THIS.
"WERE YOU IN THE AREA OF THE LA QUAD?
MGC OR MCKINLEY ON MONDAY AROUND 4 AM?
YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE HATE CRIME SUSPECT."
SO, IF YOU ARE ON THE CAMPUS OF AU AND YOU SAW THIS, THAT
IS A NUMBER THAT YOU CAN CALL.
SO THEY'VE ACTUALLY HAD A FEW SORT OF ISSUES IN THE PAST.
THEY HAD ONE LAST SEPTEMBER WHERE, I GUESS SOME WOMAN
HAD A BANANA THROWN AT HER.
PEOPLE WROTE SOMETHING ON A ROTTEN BANANA, AND THEN ANOTHER
BLACK WOMAN FACED LIKE SOMEBODY WRITING PENISES ALL OVER
HER WHITEBOARD OR SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
SO THIS WOMAN, TAYLOR, IS THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN STUDENT
GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION, SO GREAT FOR HER BREAKING THAT BARRIER,
BUT SHE WROTE AN OP-ED ABOUT HOW THE UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO BE MORE
TRANSPARENT, AND WORK BETTER TO REMEDY THESE ACTS OF
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK WOMEN, AND I THINK SHE WAS
TARGETED BECAUSE OF THAT, BECAUSE SHE WROTE THAT OP-ED
ASKING TO BE TREATED BETTER, AND ASKING FOR THE UNIVERSITY TO
REALLY RECOGNIZE THE CRAZY STUFF THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING
THROUGH ON THIS CAMPUS.
SHE HAS ASKED FOR SO LITTLE.
ME LIKE A PERSON.
THAT'S NOT EVEN A QUESTION.
THAT BEGS THE QUESTION, I UNDERSTAND BEING FRUSTRATED
BY THE GOVERNMENT, RIGHT?
I UNDERSTAND BEING FRUSTRATED OR UPSET, OR WANTING TO PISS
SOMEBODY OFF, BUT WHERE ARE YOU IN YOUR MIND WHERE YOUR
MIND GOES TO HANGING A BANANA FROM A NOOSE?
WHEN YOU FIRST SAID BANANA I THOUGHT THAT WAS AN ODD CHOICE,
BUT IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO UNDERSTAND WHY IT WAS A BANANA.
I HAD TO LOOK IT UP, I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU.
AND MY MIND IS SO DISTANT FROM EVEN CONNECTING THOSE TWO,
AND THE RACIAL CONNOTATIONS OF THAT.
THAT IS ABSURD TO ME, AND SO FAR FROM REALITY, AND SO FAR
FROM WHERE ANY NORMAL, SANE, TOLERANT PERSON'S HEAD GOES TO.
I THINK THAT'S WHY I WASN'T SHOCKED, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
YOU AND ME IS THAT I WASN'T SHOCKED BY THE BOSTON STORY
ABOUT THE BALTIMORE ATHLETE, AND THIS I WASN'T SHOCKED, AND
THAT'S WHAT'S SO SAD.
IS JUST JERKS WHO, UNDER A COVER OF PERCEIVED ANONYMITY,
WILL DO CRAP LIKE THIS.
IT IS TRYING TO SO THIS ENVIRONMENT OF FEAR, AND,
YOU KNOW, PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN AND GO BACK TO YOUR PLACE, AND
IT IS DISGUSTING.
BUT WE ARE ALLOWING IT, RIGHT?
THERE IS THIS CULTURE WILL BEGIN ALLOW THESE SORT OF LIKE,
UPTICKS IN HATE CRIMES, AND WE HAVE SEEN SO MANY THIS
YEAR, AND TO ALLOW IT ON OUR UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES, AND TO
SEE THIS IS JUST TERRIFYING FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS THAT
ARE GOING TO BE ENTERING SOCIETY AND ENTERING THE WORLD.
AND THAT PERSON WHO THREW THE BANANA AT A STUDENT IN THE
ROOM WAS EXPELLED, THEY THOUGHT THEY GOT RID OF THE PROBLEM
BUT OBVIOUSLY THEY DIDN'T.
HOPEFULLY THIS SCHOOL COMES TOGETHER, AND THAT THERE IS
SOME KIND OF CAMERA.
THAT'S WHAT I WAS ALWAYS AFRAID OF AND WHY I DIDN'T DO
ANYTHING STUPID IN COLLEGE WAS BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID SOMEBODY
WAS WATCHING, SO THEY SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR NEVER DO WELLS.