I would like begin this response by stating that this will be based on my personal opinions and beliefs. I will not be giving a response for the entire African American community, nor will I be writing a letter to the white community at N.C . State. It is impossible for me to share the thoughts of an entire race. By writing a letter targeted towards an entire community proves the fact that there might be a high level of ignorance on this campus if one believes that all people of the same race think and act the same way.
As far as “The Brick” incident is concerned, I feel that New Student Orientation made the right decision to pull copies of the publication in order to encourage the student editors of “The Brick” to make alterations where they were needed. Even though I am a part of Student Media and realize that the First Amendment right is important, fellow staff members also must realize that the project was a joint effort with various organizations whose main intent was to highlight the best of the University.
In the initial student/administrator meeting to discuss this situation, many of the student attendees mentioned that they would not have put this picture in the publication if they realized there was a racial slur at the top. It has been stated by many people that it is an unethical decision to alter a picture, unless it is altered with a cropping tool.
It must also be stated that if you look in the code of ethics for Student Media you will see that media outlets are not encouraged to use profanity, obscene language nor racial slurs. The N.C . State Student Media Code of Ethics states: “To maintain and build our reputation, the media we produce should maintain high standards, standards reflective of our community in which we operate. To that end, student media should not allow free rein when deciding what words are fit to publish and what words are not.”
In addition, it states, “Media outlets will not publish any words considered profane or obscene. ” To my knowledge, since day one the standard at this institution is that everyone is welcome no matter their race, gender or sexual orientation. Allowing such a photo to run in a publication is a direct contradiction of words listed in the Student Media Code of Ethics, as well as of the morals and values set by the University. It is no longer viewed as just a student publication when you decide to place this in New Student Orientation packets. First year students should not be forced to question whether or not they are welcome on this campus.
You say that you are protecting the First Amendment rights of the students and faculty of this University, but you are guilty of the same censorship when you try to discourage students from speaking out against this issue, because it makes you uncomfortable to realize that race is still an issue in this country. However, I personally don’t need to see racial slurs in the Free Expression Tunnel to realize that race relations are not where they should be on this campus. That’s evident enough when students feel the need to double lock their doors and slide to the edge of the sidewalk when they pass minorities on campus, and believe me that has happened. However, you can’t exactly place blame on students who never had interactions with other races before they came to this school, and choose to believe that the actions and behaviors of African Americans can be summed up by what they see on BET and hear on the radio.
I believe that some students who don’t recognize the importance of this issue would more than likely agree with the statement included in last week’s Technician by Jonathan Miller who stated, “Personally it doesn’t offend me, so I don’t really worry about it.” If someone went into the Free Expression Tunnel and wrote offensive language towards America, would they have the same reaction?
The guilty party would probably be viewed as a terrorist. Some minorities see this in the same aspect when it comes to hate speech targeted towards their respective group. The reason this is not a big issue to the majority of the campus is because for the most part, the majority of the students here have not been targeted nor have had racial slurs directed at them in a public place such as the tunnel. Please correct me if I am wrong. If there were a name written beside it, we would know who feels this way, but when it’s anonymous, you begin to wonder if it’s a person in your class or sitting across from you on the Wolfline .
Many students say that they do not agree with the offensive language in the tunnel, but yet they decide to stay silent about the issue and hope that we push it back under the rug. Many students also say that they see language in the tunnel that offends them, but yet they do nothing and stay silent. However, when groups that have faced similar incidents recently such as the African American and LGBT community choose to speak out against this, we quickly want to silence their First Amendment right. If you’re going to use that argument, you can’t use it only when it benefits you.
We also continue to say that these are just words, but didn’t we just have a rally last year in the brickyard in memory of people who took their own lives because of words? No matter what you choose to believe, words can be very dangerous and it almost feels like something more significant has to happen on this campus for people to open their eyes and realize that the issue on this campus is not as isolated as we paint it to be.
If we are going to get rid of the problem this has to be a united effort. You don’t have to be a member of the African American community in order to educate others about aspects of the community. After all they would be more likely to listen to someone of another race, because according to the definition of the word they see African Americans as contemptible, inferior, and ignorant people, which is far from the truth.
I will not continue to let this word have power. I know that some students acknowledged that they have thought about transferring after the various incidents that have happened over the past couple of years. However, transferring to another school will not solve the problem.
North Carolina State University is a state-supported school and all students are welcomed to attend this institution. Students who choose to write racial slurs on the wall would love nothing more than for these students to transfer. When they write this on the wall, they do not put their name next to it, so they are hardly a threat. They must however, realize that you earned the right to be here and that you will stay here, so they should get used to that as well.
