cross-posted
Yesterday morning, at Phi Gamma Delta house here at OSU, a noose was seen and photographed hanging from a tree. This is outrageous.
Also, unfortunately, there was no coverage of this in the OSU Barometer.
The Black Student Union is planning a protest on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in front of Reser Stadium. I don’t know many details, but I think it’s important to attend to stand in solidarity with people of color who are the targets of images such as blackface and this noose.
I heard it being discussed—Coverage is coming, but I don’t know when. As the Barometer’s Design Editor, I know little about the day-to-day content.
I’ve been following this on your blog and I’m surprised more coverage hasn’t been given to it. The noose is shocking, I must say. I’m with you. Solidarity is imperative.
Um the blackface… it’s fucking face paint. i don’t actually know any “black” person that looks like that do you? Plus is was fucking school spirit, and yes some people were asses and took it too far but shame on them, don’t make the entire university look like a bunch of racists because we decided to wear our school colors and support our team. As for the noose it was a prop… a prop. It was a decoration that was used for a philanthropic event that raised money for the Linn-Benton Food Share and helps feed the hungry in the community which I’m sure includes black and white families. I don’t think people realize how much work the haunted house must take especially if you didn’t go through it like I did. I’m not surprised they are still working on cleaning up their house and property of decorations. This one noose while it may have offended some people probably helped more people in that one Halloween night than many people do over the course of a year.
Doesn’t surprise me.
A Tragedy…
It’s really too bad that this issue has been pulled along the way it has. The noose just adds more flame to the fire. Of course, nobody will care what the fraternity students real intentions were, just like nobody cared about the intentions of the “blackout”. But it isn’t the intentions that matter here anyway. What matters is that a group of people were offended. I think that the students of OSU owe them a formal apology. Not that we knowingly practiced in racist activities, but that we simply didn’t know how offensive our actions could be. I sure as Hell don’t appreciate being labeled as a racist because I was unaware of the historical implications of “blackface”. But at the same time I know it was offensive and I apologize for that.
In the end, I think it’s difficult to say that students were “targeting” a group of students with their actions. But I do think that students need to be a little more sensitive to the effect their actions might have on those around them.
Thank you for those who have responded. I’ve written more about this here and addressed comments there as well. I am going to close comments here, so if you would like to add more, please go to the that link. Thank you!
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