Page 6
November 25, 2015
New Prices
Effective
May 1, 2014
O PINION
Martin
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UPHOLSTERY
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Creating a Space for College Students of Color
It’s the same
struggle we had
years ago
l ibero d ella p iana
As a first-year student
at Brown University, 25
years ago, I was detained
by campus security for
trespassing. In my own
dorm. In sock feet.
You see, I’d left my
room to go to the bathroom and
didn’t bring my college ID along.
I guess I should have known bet-
ter. As a black student it was al-
ways an unstated expectation that
I justify my presence on campus.
Black students were a small mi-
nority on campus and we were of-
ten seen as interlopers, even after
admission.
I was reminded of this incident
during the past weeks as protests
escalated at the University of Mis-
souri (Mizzou) over a string of
racist incidents there, culminating
in the ouster of the state university
System President Tim Wolfe.
Inspired by the Black Lives
by
Matter movement and using a
wide range of tried-and-true and
cutting edge tactics, Mizzou
students won one of their main
demands, something many ob-
servers had said was
impossible.
This example of
the power of protest
was met with right-
wing media ridicule,
attack by the Missouri
Lt. Governor and even
death threats against
students. Just a day after the jubi-
lation at the resignation of Wolfe,
fear of violence turned the campus
into a ghost town.
Many white students, profes-
sors, community supporters and
even the head of the country’s
trade union movement all came
out in support of the students. The
hashtag #BlackOnCampus began
documenting student experiences
with racism around the country.
Missouri students were not
alone. Students at Yale University
were in motion as well in response
to a racist incident on campus and
reports of a “white girls only” fra-
ternity party.
More joined the fight on Nov.
12, when the already planned Mil-
lion Student March - demanding
the elimination of all student debt
(which has reached $1.2 trillion
nationally), free college education
for all, and $15 minimum wage
for campus workers - stood in
solidarity with besieged Mizzou
students.
Racism on campuses both pri-
vate and public is nothing new.
Neither is student protest around
the issues affecting their lives.
What is new is the nation-
al scope of the protest and the
breadth of the support. Some 115
campuses took part in the protests.
More than 1,000 students gathered
at the University of California at
Berkeley. It’s the kind of student
action not seen in a generation.
Ultimately the protests at Miz-
zou and elsewhere are not so much
about this administrator or that, as
they are about demanding that in-
stitutions of higher learning create
a space for students of color. It’s
the same issue we were struggling
with years ago.
When I was detained as a stu-
dent it was not an isolated inci-
dent. Police harassment of black
students in particular was com-
monplace. There were also acts of
bigotry against students of color
by a few white students, remind-
ers that to some we were unwel-
come.
So it was no accident then that
graduation rates for black students
lagged behind those of our peers.
So we organized meetings, issued
demands, and protested to make a
change, just like students today.
Unfortunately little has changed.
Black enrollment and gradua-
tion rates at Mizzou and colleges
around the country are dispropor-
tionately low.
Some commentators seem to
think these students are protesting
because they are young and na-
ive or involved in an intellectual
exercise. But students today - as
always - are largely motivated to
action by the pressing issues im-
pacting their lives and educations.
They are fighting to learn and sur-
vive. It’s not academic.
Libero Della Piana is a senior
organizer and digital director at
Alliance for a Just Society. He
lives in East Harlem, New York.