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This Wednesday, Nov. 11, KU held a town hall meeting to discuss “Race, Respect, & Responsibility.” Hosted by the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Diversity & Equity, the meeting was intended to address the events that happened at the University of Missouri, which resulted in resignation of the University of Missouri system president and the University of Missouri chancellor by creating a dialogue about what KU has been and will do to protect marginalized students, specifically as it pertains to race.
The town hall meeting was originally intended to be in the Big 12 Room (a relatively small venue) with only a few minor university figureheads present. However, after catching wind of the passion of students, at the last moment it was moved to Woodruff Auditorium (a significantly larger venue) with two overflow rooms and a live stream. Additionally, the chancellor, Bernadette Gray-Little, was brought in as the moderator for the conversation.
The meeting began with an introduction from the Chancellor and the conversation started with an invitation to share stories, grievances and suggestions about their experiences and KU. The floor was originally intended to be open for a mere 50 minutes; however, the conversation ended up lasting for almost 3 hours.
(Photo courtesy Mike Yoder of Lawrence Journal World)
The conversation was heartbreaking. Students and professors alike voiced their frustrations with KU’s response (or lack-thereof) to the unsafe environment that exists at the university. Countless narratives of discrimination, erasure and acts of hate committed against marginalized students, against black students. Calls to listen to “decolonize our syllabus” and perhaps the most poignant and shocking story came from the Black Student Union president. Less than a month ago, she and her friends were victims of a very intense hate crime. In the wake of Mizzou, in the midst of discussions of race relations and respectability politics, her story was heard. But what might be overlooked in all of this is that, had the events at Mizzou not transpired, had the students not fought the system, there would be little opportunity for the travesties that transpire to be brought to the light. And that is terrifying.
Students told stories of being called racial slurs, having their lives threatened, having their identities objectified, ridiculed and demeaned. They told stories of things that could not exist in a post-racial society. They existed as testimony to the violently oppressive world we continue to live in. A world where the color of your skin continues to define your quality of life.
And, as always, we are trying to change that.
At the Town Hall Meeting, a grassroots organization called Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk made their presence known. After temporarily taking over the forum to speak on the inadequacy of the university in terms of racial equality and inclusion, the group made 15 demands of the university so as to create an safe and inclusive campus for marginalized students.
(Photo courtesy Sara Shepherd of Lawrence Journal World)
When the voices of those who are marginalized and oppressed are silenced there is hurt, there is no change, and there is perpetuance of a harmful system of society and governance. But after so many years of being silenced, the voices compound. The voices are agitated; they are impatient. And now they are done waiting. After hundreds of years of suffering, hundreds of years of fighting, after so many movements for equality, there is a new wave of tired voices, reinvigorated by a newfound realization of the power of their words, of their presence.
The world may not be ready, but we are.
Stand with us.
#ConcernedStudent1950
#RockChalkInvisibleHawk