Being ‘Black on Campus’ – frustrations spread across US

• 12 November 2015

The racially polarised debate stemming from events at the University of Missouri seems to be spreading online to campuses across the US.

Black students protesting against racism on one US campus, the Columbia campus of the University of Missouri, have attracted global attention all week. The head of the university has resigned. But there are now signs that the online campaign has spread to other campuses across the United States.

On the original Missouri campus at the heart of the story, the resignation of Tim Wolfe, president of the University of Missouri, was one of the key demands made by protesters who argued that he failed to address what they say is endemic racism. Then, on Wednesday, two men, both students at other university campuses in the state, were arrested for making threats against black students on the anonymous app Yik Yak, according to local reports.

At the same time, online protests from black students in different parts of the country spread after a tweet from “Concerned Student 1950,” the campaign group behind the Missouri protests:

That sparked a nationwide Twitter trend, with more than 90,000 messages posted using the hashtag by early Thursday. The tag quickly spread to other campuses and areas of the country, with students and former students sharing personal experiences.

“Being #BlackOnCampus means you’re beloved in brochures & ‘diversity’ campaigns, but isolated & disregarded in campus access & equity,” tweeted Ernest Owens, a journalist in Philadelphia. A man in Los Angeles tweeted: “Being called a ‘reverse racist’ by many of my fellow White peers for bringing up White privilege in American society.”

“When you suddenly become the spokesperson for all black people in your white only class. #BlackOnCampus,” tweeted a self-described activist in St Louis.

Several Tweeters used the hashtag to criticise the protesters. “Hey #BlackOnCampus kids, so some jerk said something racially insensitive to you… DEAL WITH IT!” said one. “Being #ConservativeOnCampus is a lot harder than being #BlackOnCampus,” read another tweet.

But most of the messages using the hashtag backed the campaign – the most retweeted one was from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders:

Blog by Mike Wendling

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