“As long as they’re not white,”

 

said the UCLA student when I tried handing her a flyer about children being killed in the Middle East (2005).

 


“Fuck you and your diversity!”

yelled the defeated presidential candidate (for USAC) at a crowd of students of color during elections night (2008). While at UCLA, I constantly felt the racial tensions between students of color/allies and other students on campus…this is not something that started this year, in 2005, or in the 90’s. This has been a phenomenon documented at the University of California on an endless number of occasions across campuses. Nonetheless, I always took pride in being an alumnus of the UC system; with all of its downfalls, I still viewed it as a space that allowed students to voice their opinions and be protected to a certain degree...until now.

Within the past month, several events have taken place against students of color/underrepresented students:

• 8 UCI students and 3 UCR students of Middle Eastern/Southeast Asian and/or of Muslim background are facing expulsion for vocally disturbing an event where Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, was delivering a speech. The speech was aimed to tightening US-Israel relations.

• A UCSD fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha (let their name be remembered), hosted a racist party entitled: “The Compton Cookout”.
• A student-run TV station, the Koala, defended the party.
• Members of the Black Student Union found a cardboard that read “Compton Lynching” at the student-run campus TV station.
• A noose was found hanging in the Geisel Library
• An unconfirmed second noose has said to have been put up on the statue of a bear on campus

• A swastika was carved on a Jewish student’s dorm room door.
• The LGBT Center was vandalized (spray-painted) with anti-queer slogans and words.

When looking at UCLA, people of color have played an important role in its construction and success as an institution of higher education. The original red bricks found on the campus were brought to Westwood from an East Los Angeles location, the Dixon Brickyard, whose workers were all of either Latin@ or African descent. In later years, it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself who delivered a speech discussing racial inequalities and nonviolent resistance on the UCLA campus (1965). A few years later, however, FBI agents killed two UCLA students who were members of the then Black Student Union (today – Afrikan Student Union) and Black Panthers Party (1969). Historically, University of California students have been leaders in anti-war movements and have set precedence in areas such as international relations, chemistry, medicine, the humanities, and more. UC students have been well aware of institutional racism existing within the system but no one could have predicted the disgusting events that 2010 has brought us.

Students of color, underrepresented students, and allies, do not feel safe on their respective campuses. They are not going to keep quiet and will make sure their voices are heard. They have been and are continuing to organize on a system wide level to ensure that the safety of all students is set as a priority and to advocate for all underrepresented students. The student who turned herself in for putting up the noose at UCSD has only been suspended as of right now, although she has clearly committed a hate crime that carried a death threat. It is time for ALL UC students, their friends and families, alumni, and community supporters, to unite to put an end to this type of behavior! In the document they recently put out entitled “BSU Demands”, the Black Student Union (BSU) at UCSD states: “The University of California system is not representative of communities of color, low-income communities and other historically underrepresented and marginalized communities. The detrimental effect of the campus climate that we now witness if only a continuum of institutional, systematic racial inequalities and intolerance that administration has been well aware of through documentation such as the 2007 yield report as well as the “DO UC Us?” campaign.” The administration has failed in addressing these issues and it is therefore the power of the students that will take care of them.

“Hasta la victoria siempre”-Che Guevara

Examples of other racist incidents or incidents where race/ethnicity or religion may have played a role include:


Other California campuses:

What is a hate crime?
http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/geneq

UCSD Latino Graduation & Retention Rates:
http://lgbt.ucsd.edu/ccc/documents/Latino%20Achievement%20at%20the%20University%20of%20California%20San%20Diego.pdf

Black Student Union’s Demands:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27523059/Bsu-Demands