Sometimes I just like to yell and scream. Actually, I just like yelling and screaming in general. It’s a good release for all this anger that lives inside of me. However, there is a legitimate issue at this college that needs to be addressed.
Racism is at Ohio University. I said it.
To any of the naysayers of this statement, I can’t help but disagree with you. Last week’s graffiti wall debacle proved it.
There used to be more to it, but local activists covered it up.
The original image was of an African savanna with a giraffe couple and an elephant couple which seemed to be embracing one another. Then someone decided to add “Build the wall” and an image of what seems to be an African hanging from a tree with “You cant cover this up next to it" as well as various other symbols.
The original image was created by Kids on Campus, a volunteer program where students volunteer to spend time with kids in local schools.
I am not able to call this person or persons who created this vandals, because these walls are for people to exercise their freedom of speech, but I will call them a racist.
This image seems as if it is directly targeting the African-American and Black communities on campus. The hanging man on appears as if he is being lynched, which was a method of execution historically used to murder African-Americans a long time ago. The implications of these images is unsettling. Heck, this isn’t directed at me, a white male, but I was made uncomfortable by the fact that this hate thrives on my school's campus.
Anyway, last winter there was another racist painting on the wall.
Calling someone a “neo-progressive f--k” is not going to help your cause or make you seem mature. Yet, I do agree with the original mural's message here: Black Lives Matter exists for those who are hateful in nature toward blacks.
To the person who is exercising their First Amendment right by defacing a mural children created, I am dually use my rights to express this to you:
In my opinion, the fact that we are still having to deal with racism in this nation is absolutely ridiculous and depressing. People hating someone solely for the pigmentation of their skin is honestly something that should never have existed in the first place, but I implore you to leave that hate back in the 1700s where it didn’t even belong in the first place. Heck, just get rid of it all together.
Whoever painted those images stirred up some controversy just like he intended. However, I encourage all students of Ohio University to come together and love one another as a testament against the hateful behaviors of racism. I desperately hope that someday my kids can grow up in a world where these kind of beliefs don’t exist, but I guess ideas like that make me “politically correct idiot” or whatever.
Racism exists at OU, but we should not have to tolerate its existence.
Chuck Greenlee is a sophomore studying adolescent-to-young-adult integrated language arts at Ohio University. How will you spread the message of love to your student body? Let Chuck know by tweeting him @chuckingaround.
