Following the recent N.C. State versus ECU football game, several John McCain supporters approached a group of Barack Obama supporters who were sponsoring a “Tailgate for Change.” The McCain supporters shouted obscenities and racist remarks at the Obama supporters and then proceeded to tear down the Obama-Biden banner located nearby. This unacceptable behavior is an ugly by-product of the prominent role that race and gender play in politics and is the type of behavior that is likely to increase as the election draws near.

At NCSU, we must be increasingly vigilant to the very real likelihood that acts of racism, sexism and hate may increase as we approach the election and for some time after the election, no matter who wins. Why is this increase in racism, sexism and hate likely to happen? Because, there are racists and sexists in America who are threatened by the idea of a black president or a woman vice president and will lash out in the only way that they know how. We have already seen Ku Klux Klan meetings announced that did not take place, obscenities and racist remarks being shouted at Obama supporters, and campaign signs destroyed. Racists may even hang nooses and burn crosses in public spaces. They will do this to intimidate, spread fear and threaten violence against people who don’t support their candidate or political views. Perhaps this is done to keep people away from the voting booth or to suggest what may happen if a black is elected president or if a woman is just a “heartbeat away.”

So, it is important for us to be vigilant. Not because we might stop these incidents before they happen or because we may catch the perpetrators after the fact. Rather, we must be vigilant to our core values and to our standards of civil conduct. We must uphold our shared belief that the University is truly universal. The University community must take this opportunity, that the heightened interest in race and gender generated by the presidential contest present, to learn more about race and gender and other forms of diversity. With our words and with our deeds, we must embrace our belief that “everyone is welcome here.” We must rebuke those who would spread hate, sexism and racism and we must stand together as a community that values and respects diversity.

There is a famous quote attributed to Rev. Martin Niemoller (1937) that illustrates why we must be vigilant to our core values and why we must safeguard our accepted standards of civil conduct:

“First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”