Oswego is two for two this year for racist incidents. The first one being the student saying, “F*** all of y’all, f*** all y’all Blacks and f*** your flags, put them down,” during the Peace Walk. The second incident was during the Walk of Shame on Oct. 8. The Walk of Shame is organized by Two and A Half, a sexual assault awareness organization at SUNY Oswego. Two and A Half, gets its name from the fact that every 2.5 minutes, a women is raped in the U.S according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). The walk is meant to spread awareness about sexual assault. Students walk from the Marano Campus Center to Oneida Hall, the hall where the first sexual assault case was reported, chanting messages against sexual assault. It is a great sight to see, seeing as students from all year came together as a unity front to stand against sexual assault.

During the march, a student took it upon themselves to post on YikYak, “What are the monkeys doing around campus.” Granted this is YikYak, an anonymous app, where people post the oddest things. As I am writing this story people are debating about who they want from OzFest and if you are curious about some of their options it is: SpongeBob from the “Band Geeks” episode, The Wiggles, The Hex Girls and Boyz 12. However, the conversation on YikYak at the time the post was made revolved around the march itself, with some students posting the following: “I think the people relentlessly hating on the protest are the ones you need to watch out for the most… yall some freak,” “let’s be real you guys have a problem with everything that’s protested. Doesn’t matter the issue yall always have something to say,” “Complaining about a sexual assault protest is crazy,” and “… only valid criticism I think is that they always do it during midterms… but like it’s not even that big of a deal it doesn’t even last that long.” It is safe to say that that comment was meant for the people walking, which consisted of majority Black students.

Some can argue that this was not a racial incident and that it was just a joke, but it is not funny. Calling Black people “monkeys” is essentially calling them inferior, dirty and uneducated. This dates back to the 18th century when white Europeans tried to differentiate themselves from others to maintain superiority over others and as a means to justify plantation slavery. In 2016, Penny Sparrow, a South African estate agent, made a post on FaceBook saying that she would now address the Black people in South Africa monkeys. In the post she said that they “obviously have no education whatsoever so to allow them loose is inviting huge dirt and troubles and discomfort to others.” The use of the word monkey has never been something positive when addressing Black people. It is not something I like nor something that I find funny.

I do not know what is in the air this semester or what is making people this bold and disrespectful, but I need it to stop. I think addressing the first incident would make it clear that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated on campus at all.