February is Black History month, a time when educators and students across the United States take time to learn about African American history. On the campus of University of Missouri, this time of year has been fraught with racial bigotry. In the early morning hours Feb. 12, someone defaced a part of a residence hall on campus with black spray paint and used the "N-word."
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports an arrest was made less than 48 hours later. Benjamin Elliott has been charged with a Class D felony as it relates to the graffiti. It has been classified as a hate crime.
Officials at the University of Missouri are appalled and have reacted strongly to the incident.
KOMU-TV reports MU Chancellor Brady Deaton is "dismayed and deeply offended." The campus' Black Culture Center Director Nathan Stephens calls the crime "heinous."
In a letter to the campus newspaper The Maneater, black leaders on campus reacted with strong words. Bryan Like of school's chapter of the NAACP was forthright in his assertion of the incident.
"So it seems that this time of year has become a tradition for all the bigots to hide in the shadows and spew their hatred on campus. ... It is apparent that we have racist students at the University of Missouri," Like stated.
Campus leaders will gather Feb. 16 to discuss what needs to be done. This is the second hate crime in a year on campus. Last March, two students were arrested after dropping cotton balls in front of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center on campus.
Like's words were borne out of a year in which no one on campus learned from the cotton ball incident which made national headlines. Now a third individual has been arrested for hate crimes on campus in under a year.
Like's frustration deserves to have its air time -- Mizzou, and college campuses in general, have no place for hatred and bigotry. In a setting where free and open exchange of ideas are cherished, the extremely limited worldview of racism has no room at all in an institution of higher learning. This horrid display has no business being in college.
Leaders on campus have a right to be frustrated -- it's as if no one learned from 2010. Unfortunately for Missouri's largest public university, the struggles of blacks to live free of hate and fear is still a lesson that needs to be studied by everyone. More importantly, leaders need to find out why and how this can be prevented in the future.
The ignorance and impunity of one individual has ruined an idyllic setting to get an education. It's not like someone who got too toasted at party and ruined a good time. Millions of lives have been lost due to racial bigotry and the University of Missouri needs to deal with this incident as a top priority over anything else.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Tuesday, February 15th 2011 at 2:41PM
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