April 18, 2014

University of Mississippi's Noose Incident

Three white members of a fraternity at the University of Mississippi were accused of placing a noose and Confederate flag around the neck of a statue of James Meredith, the first black student to enroll in “Ole Miss” in 1962. These students have since been expelled from the fraternity, and one student eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of threatening force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university.

HOW DOES THIS CONNECT TO STRUCTURAL RACISM?:

"We are under a system of systemic institutionalized racism in this state, on this campus, in this town. And...we have a culture that valorizes these racist depictions of the old Confederate South — once again in the state, in this town, on this campus. So I don’t think it should be a surprise that racist acts occur." -Brian Cooper Owens, Professor, African American Studies

For more on this incident see, " UMD Students Fed Up With Diversity Issues Following Found Noose "