There is much to be said about the last week at UCSD, but for right now it is imperative to know what exactly is going on.
A noose has been found hanging off of a light at Geisel Library. This is connected to the racial tensions of the last few weeks, just the most recent manifestation of a long-standing racism that is deep within every breath we take at UCSD. It is our history; we cannot avoid it. We must look it right in the eyes. Here’s a link to Student Regent Jesse Bernal’s page on the topic, with a picture of the noose for documentation purposes. I don’t want to alienate people by showing the offensive picture here, but I want people to have the relevant visual aid for this post, so they know this is some real shit. Some people need to see it. Others may disagree; our comment box is always open.
UCSD is racist. Let's take a second to note that. UCSD is racist.
In the meantime, let us remember the words of a wise man: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Spotted exactly one week after the words “Compton Lynching” were seen in the Koala’s office, this message from UCSD’s white-supremacists was accompanied by a separate message to the Guardian that more were coming. Certain elements within our generally sickening student body have decided to taunt students of color with the most potent symbolism of white-on-black violence in America, just for funsies. This is what students who don’t stand for something are being asked to fall for. If I’ve gotten to know this school as well as I thought I have in 12 years connected to it, I think a lot of white people here are going to fall for it.
Let me state first off that if you think this is funny, you’re probably the kind of person I wouldn’t miss. I can only speak for myself here.
Secondly, there’s a disturbing trend in white activism, including my own, to depersonalize the real pain and suffering of real people in our moral and political judgments. There are plenty of objective political reasons and shining moral reasons to oppose this disgusting display of white power. But what have moved me most in the last few hours are the personal thoughts of a few students of color I’ve been privileged to read from. I will share these on this forum, so that, if only for a moment, we are thinking about the real-life horror that UCSD students are imposing upon one another.
As you read these, if you have the privilege of being emotionally removed from the situation, think about how you would feel as a student, worker or teacher of color walking this campus, knowing you are outnumbered up to 18 times over by people who throw so-called Compton cookouts, drop N-bombs on all-campus TV, push you off of committees if you are perceived as a threat, and hang nooses in the library for kicks. Would you feel safe? Would you feel like the campus you’ve put years of hard work and insomnia into belongs to you like it does to other people? Do you? Students of color, how does this event change your perception of the campus you live, work, teach, study, play and dream on?
We welcome all comments on this matter except that I will try to keep this a safe space for people who are already being ridiculed, dehumanized, and spat upon enough. If you have to ask what that means, chances are you’d be better served by some cheap-thrills message board or morning show.
Disclaimer: the individuals quoted are not affiliated with Forward and did not specifically approve their thoughts being posted; I will delete the relevant quotes if they ask, though.
A statement from one antiracist organizer, reminding us of why this kind of imagery is considered such a vicious personal threat for black students here:
“We are in a state of emergency my friends. Latest news is that a NOOSE was found hanging on the 7th floor of Geisel Library. People ask whats the big deal? Why is everyone so upset? I’ll tell you why take note of this excerpt in the autobiography of Angelo Herndon titled “Let Me Live”:
“I know many stories about Negroes who were lynched on no more just provocation than this. Sometimes the lynch mobs need neither provocation nor excuse to carry on their bestial orgies. Often I used to read with horror about the lynching of some Negro worker in the South. The most gruesome, the most disgusting lynching story I ever heard was that which concerned Hayes and Mary turner, Negro sharecroppers in Georgia. They were pauperized and their landlord had tried to rob them of everything they had produced on their land with the toil of their hands and the seat of their brows. The share cropper was man enough to stand up for his rights. He demanded that the farm products be divided equally, as had been agreed upon at the beginning of the year. The landlord grew violently abusive. He threatened him and said he would “fix” him. Terrified out of his wits, for he knew that his landlord would not stop at anything to revenge himself, Hayes Turner tried to make a quite getaway. But his landlord had not allowed grass to grow on his track. He quickly organized a posse of hooligans and the most disreputable elements in the community and gave chase to the runaway. The posse, led by the County Sheriff, caught up with Hayes Turner at the fork of the road near Barney. THEY STRUNG HIM UP ON A TREE AT WAYSIDE WHERE HE HUNG FOR TWO DAYS. Hysterical and grief-stricken, Mrs. Turner was heard to remark that she would have the lynchers arrested. When the lynch mob heard of her determination they decided they were going to teach her a lesson for such a presumption. Although she was in the eighth month of her pregnancy, THEY STRUNG HER TO A TREE AND BROKE HER NECK. THEY HANGED HER BY HER FEET AND POURED GASOLINE OVER HER. As she burned, the mob howled with glee. Then one maniac, wielding a hog-splitting knife, RIPPED HER BELLY OPEN AND THE LITTLE INFANT FELL OUT. ONE OF THE LYNCHERS STAMPED THE INFANT WITH HIS HOBNAILED SHOES INTO THE EARTH. Then the mob, driven with wild bestiality, began to howl like wolves and in their criminal sadism fired hundreds of bullets into her lifeless body.”
This my friends is the BIG DEAL. This my friends is what a noose symbolizes and if the individual that put this up or the individuals that agree with that person putting this noose up for everyone to see agrees then they are perpetuating this very act of violence and genocide of a group of human beings. So now it’s time to mobilize MORE THAN EVER before. It is time to come together in solidarity and struggle. Tomorrow 8am library walk WEAR ALL BLACK AND BE READY TO HAVE OUR VOICES HEARD!!!!!!”
Finally, most personally, a text message from a friend, herself a student of color at UCSD:
“I don’t feel good about this. Reading the noose thing just filled me with such fear and now I’m trying to stop crying.”
How would you feel if your sister wrote this? Your cousin? Your mother? Yourself?
Before last night, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to a white Southern college from the 1930s. After this morning, we’ll see what UCSD looks like.
In the meantime, those of you who don’t go to UCSD: Burn down the state’s rotten, racist institutions in solidarity. Let your righteous anger be your guide. The issues of campus climate and academic access deserve your full attention.
The noose. So, what exactly will the excuses be for this cowardly act that brings up memories of the confederate KKK of the South in their attempts to keep slavery and the non-whites in fear? Is it that are uneducated, is it that they are live in fear because our President in the white house is not 100% white. This is what the republican party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” have brought you. These kids follow what their dullard leaders say, are you surprise at what they do when you know what they think.
First off, let me say that it is ridiculous that the recent conflict has escalated to the point where death threats have been made. It is upsetting and unacceptable that people feel “free speech” can be displayed through threatening symbols such as a noose. I am completely outraged at this event.
But with that said, in response to the caption of the noose photo, how can you pin a demeaning and hatful term such as racist on an entire student body. Clearly there are racists people at UCSD, there are racist people at every school. the actions of UCSDs administration have given the white supremacists an excuse to react with hate. But in no way can you slogan UCSD as racist. The majority of the people here are certainly not. If the noose was an isolated issue, i can guarantee there would be thousands of students marching at the protest this morning. But there events are so tied up in a wide array of actions that have taken place over the past few weeks, demeaning all students and faculty at UCSD.
The people that placed the noose and promised more to come are cowardly, hateful, and yes, racist. Their threatening message should and does call for action. It sickens me that people like this are still around in the 21st century.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by blackerflagger: @anarchists @EmergentOrder @activistgirl @iRevolt NOOSE FOUND @ #UCSD LIBRARY MORE PROMISED IN MSG 2 NEWSPAPER http://forwarducsd.org/?p=187...
Chiggs, sorry friend but yes your school is racist, not it’s students/faculty but with around 2% black student body there is systematic racism.
One thing I’ve found, from this article, from the meeting I attended last night, and from the various protests, is that it seems like the black community is not just excluding, but attacking all students that aren’t black. Over and over I hear “You don’t know, you don’t understand, you’re not black so you can’t even speak about it” or “If you didn’t realize that there was racism at UCSD, if you don’t think UCSD is a racist school, you don’t belong here.”
The fact is that most of the people at UCSD who aren’t black had no idea before these events that there was any sort of race problem at the school. And now when we become aware of it and try to get involved and learn more we’re shouted down and pushed away. Saying things like “UCSD is racist” and “our generally sickening student body” is not conducive to the situation.
Because what I’m feeling, and what I guess that the 98% of UCSD that is not black will start to feel, is that that 2% of the school doesn’t want our help, and they are already linking all of us with the racism and labeling all of us as part of the problem. But 2% of the school isn’t going to be able to create a mass movement on their own. If they want to effect change, they’re going to need to talk with and accept help from the rest of the campus.
This needs to be a time of unity, of education and discussion. You cannot answer hate and ignorance with more hate.
Sean,
I sincerely disagree. Most of the community that is out there protesting is openly calling for the support of EVERYONE on the campus. I’m sorry that you feel alienated from them. I’m sorry if you have received hostility from anyone if you have tried to show your support.
The reason why the school itself is racist is because of the policies of the administration. They have created a climate hostile towards people of color. When confronted on this fact, they call for studies and committees. When these reports and recommendations are presented to senior administration, they are ignored. The administration is only interested in pacifiying the situation without substantive remedies.
Please do not feel that you yourself are being called racist. However, when one student in this body suffers, we all suffer. When one student of this body hurts another, we are all responsible. Only by changing the fabric of this institution can we lose the title as a racist university.
I’m white and I talk about this stuff, I join rallies, I participate and meet people and develop my own relationship to the movement. I and the white people I know who have been welcomed into BSU will be surprised to hear that someone is saying this is only for black people.
I have, however, expressed my own frustration at people who don’t get it. Ultimately, in the Information Age, people have a responsibility to do their own research; but it can be productive to be more patient about it. That is something I need to work on, personally. (Really, though, if someone thinks this thing is funny, they just need to spend more time at the library. Reading books, not hanging up ropes.)
It’s a common tactic for some white liberals and “radicals”, in times of racial strife, to excuse themselves from working with black people by saying, “They don’t want white people around; they didn’t want us in the movement”, etc. White people said this in the 60s and 70s, “radical” students, who instead of analyzing the problem at the root, threw up their hands and said, “What can I do? I’ve been locked out of the movement.” This in response to specific suggestions of how white people could be part of the movement.
To a white male straight-looking/acting person at UCSD, who has felt included in BSU and MEChA’s actions, this idea that black people are excluding non-black people sounds like it comes from another planet. You see Chicanx, “Asian”, Indian, and white people at these events and you start to wonder how some people are getting this idea that non-black students are excluded. In fact, I know plenty of white people at UCSD who are involved in the movement.
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Great site. Keep the good work.|I saved the url. Appreciate the good effort!
An execllent article with valid points, I’ve been a lurker here for some time but desire to be more included in the foreseeable future.
Just have to give credit to UC Student Regent-designate Jesse Cheng for the UCRegentLive Blog. It’s his, not mine.