Many times, as a young African-American with mostly non-African-American friends, I'm caught directly at the intersection of white and black America. I consider my place between the two a privilege. They'll all tell you I'm the first to crack jokes about race, but sadly, what I speak of today is no laughing matter. This is for them.
To whom it may concern,
Generally, I keep pretty quiet when amongst my friends during times of racial strife across the nation. We can all agree that the tragedies that befell Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and countless other black people were unfortunate at best, unacceptable at worst. Both I and you all know that. Riots and protests after these incidents were swift and powerful, but I tend to choose not to speak up too much about them unless specifically asked, as it's often tough seeing both sides of the issue. I'm not going to join a protest against police simply because I'm black, just as I'm not going to pretend racial prejudice isn't a big issue simply because I have a plethora of white friends. Jokes aside, you don't know what it's like to have the VERY real feeling of not always being safe anytime we're pulled over by cops, hoping that you're going to be lucky enough to get away with just a ticket... or at all. But being in these crosshairs right now affords me an opportunity to shed light on an area that I've mostly kept in the dark.
In case anyone has been living under a rock recently, Jonathan Butler, an MU grad student, recently decided to undergo a hunger strike in opposition to MU President Tim Wolfe's repeated unsatisfactory lack of action against a number of racially-charged incidents, both on and off campus this year. Butler is a representative of #ConcernedStudent1950, a student-run movement that derives its namesake from the first year that black students were allowed on campus, and has literally put his life on the line in order to be the change he wants to see. He has now gained national attention, even more so now that dozens of members of the MU Football team have joined his cause, pledging to take a strike against football activities until Wolfe is removed from his position, because they feel, as they've so eloquently put it, that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
I, for what it's worth, don't necessarily agree with some of the demonstrations that we've seen in the face of what may or may not have been racial injustice this year. I was actually right there when the Concerned Student 1950 group staged a walk-in during the MU Homecoming parade this October, briefly stopping the parade dead in its tracks to stand in front of Wolfe's car. "Great show in solidarity, wrong time and place," I thought to myself as I watched it happen. And Butler's hunger protest, albeit absolutely courageous and admirable, is obviously a dangerous game, as he may actually lose his life over this, perhaps unnecessarily.
But with all of these things, it is important to remember that other people's passions are not our own. I honestly don't think Wolfe is the problem and that he necessarily should lose his position over a problem he didn't create. I do, however, agree that it is Wolfe's job to step up and do something, ANYTHING, whenever an ugly, racially-charged incident occurs on campus, such as someone smearing a swastika in their own feces in a residence hall a couple weeks ago, or student president Payton Head having racial epithets shouted at him. Hell, we're still not THAT far removed from an incident that saw cotton balls strewn across the front lawn of the campus Black Culture Center just a few years ago. Many of us were here when it happened. It's not enough to say that these things aren't acceptable; Wolfe had to show his students, minorities especially, that he wouldn't allow a culture that lets people think such bigotry is okay to live on. When he didn't, he risked frustration reaching this sort of fever pitch. If a student loses their life in protest of his continued employment as a president, he's OFFICIALLY reached a bad place, especially now that it's become a national headline. Now, he probably has no choice but to step down, lest this situation get far uglier.
But, just because I wouldn't risk my life like that doesn't mean that Butler shouldn't, and THAT'S why he has my support. For him to show that sort of conviction and intestinal fortitude bespeaks a true belief deep down inside him that he's living under systematic prejudice. And this isn't just about black students living under those conditions - this movement is in the name of ALL marginalized students, ethnicities, and cultures here on campus. Hopefully, we can one day soon get to a place where everyone feels like they're safe an accepted. We've absolutely made big strides since 1950, but making progress doesn't mean we can allow complacency to set in.
The internet can be both a wonderful and gruesome place. For proof, just search this topic on Twitter or Facebook and see both how supportive and hateful people can be. The support shows us that humans still have the capacity for great caring, but the downside shows us that can often be tempered with unbelievable ignorance. Seriously, if you want to keep your faith in the human condition from being sullied, just take my word for it - the vitriol out there is NOT for the faint of heart.
But what Butler, the MU Football players, and their supporters are doing is still an unquestionably big deal. Hopefully it doesn't come to it, but whether Butler dies in this quest or not, it's sparking a conversation that needs to be had. It's promoting a culture of change for the better, something for which we should all strive. I'd implore not just my friends, but anyone who's even tangentially associated with someone here at Mizzou or of a different ethnicity to not look at this through a monochromatic lens. Try to see it with some empathy, to be in the shoes of a minority for a second. To see this as just "some black people making noise as they are wont to do" is missing the entire point. The situation, I'm afraid, is just not that black and white - full pun intended.
