Ferguson Sparks Mixed Reactions on Campus

“I am tired of this trouble in this world,” Reverend Robert Thompson repeated during his meditation Dec. 3, delivered in the aftermath of a grand jury’s failure on Nov. 24 to indict the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. On the same day, another grand jury in Staten Island declined to indict the white police officer who killed a black man, Eric Garner, using a chokehold.“I am tired of hearing that another black man or boy has been shot by a policeman. I am tired of those whites who refuse to believe that we have a problem in this country with the administration of justice to people of color and the poor,” Thompson said in his meditation. He also expressed that despite the importance and horrific nature of recent events, they represented only small parts of a larger, historical “...pattern of injustice, that assaults black and brown men in particular.”Thompson’s meditation seemed to set the tone for many of the emotions and conversations that coursed through campus in the past week. For many in the Exeter community and beyond, the two non-indictments were the tipping point after a string of shooting deaths of black men by white police officers. For others, it brought up feelings of discomfort and an uncertainty of how to discuss race in an academic setting. Principal Thomas Hassan sent an all-school email describing the importance of keeping race relations and social justice in campus conversations. “We need to keep the dialogue going in order to help influence and shape more positive, equitable outcomes in the future,” he wrote.In the past week, students organized a die-in Dec. 5, followed by an all-school assembly on Saturday, led by Dean of Multicultural Affairs Rosanna Salcedo. On Sunday, approximately 50 members of the campus community convened at the church to express their personal views about the national events and local responses to it.The die-in drew about 100 protesters who lay on the academic quad for four and half minutes to represent the four and half hours Michael Brown’s body was left on the sidewalk in Ferguson, Missouri.Senior and ALES president Jordan Bolden said that through ALES she organized the protest to spread awareness as well as commemorating the deaths of people such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Darrien Hunt and others.For Bolden, as well as many other members of the black community, the issue was a deeply personal one. “I personally participated in the die-in because I am afraid. My brother is 5'11, and weighs 215 lbs, the average size of a man. But he is also black, which automatically makes him a danger to those around him. I am afraid that whomever he is up against will not take the time to get to know him before pulling the trigger and ending his life,” she said.For many students and faculty that participated, it was a powerful action. “Participating in the die-in deeply affected me,” said senior Ella Werthan. She noted that because she is white, “Michael Brown’s body and life were treated with less respect than mine would have been.”The action of lying on the ground herself brought Werthan to recognize the reality of her racial privilege and the disadvantages many blacks experience simply because of their race. “Never once have I thought that the government would see a demon in my face, or that my dead body might one day be left in a street to rot for hours, but each of my black classmates carries some degree of this fear. This is not acceptable,” she said.Upper Tierra McClain, who helped organize the event, and is a member of the Executive Board of ALES, explained the motivation to hold a die-in at Exeter. “It was never our belief that by holding the die-in we would immediately be ‘changing the world,’ but I don’t think that means that its effects should be undermined.”The Assembly held on the following day featured speeches from Hassan, Salcedo, history Instructor Eric Wade and head of the history department Bill Jordan in an effort to provide a framework for discussions around recent events.While students were appreciative of the efforts, some students said they wished that the assembly’s content had been less detached. Lower Kelvin Green II expressed that he wished the administrative email had come earlier, and stated, “Even the assembly that was held on Tuesday morning did not acknowledge what many members of Exeter had on their minds, the recent events that are products of the historical injustice for Black people and Brown people in this nation.”At the forum held in Phillips Church, mathematics instructor Sami Atif was one of many from the PEA community who shared a personal experience. “My hope in speaking at the forum was to put a face to some of the overwhelming emotion and tension that is experienced between law enforcement and certain communities,” he said. “Police brutality is real, racial profiling is real, mistrust in the system is real, the feeling of an occupational force rather than individuals who protect and serve is real, mass incarceration is very real, for profit prison is very real and all these elements sum to a sad reality particularly for individuals that look like me—young, black and male,” he said.In his speech, he urged faculty and students to begin to ask curricular questions. “As an institution, is there an obligation and expectation to teach students not just through special assemblies and tragic events but through Harkness how to navigate these complicated social issues like racism, privilege, class, inequality and civil justice? To do so seems to complement both knowledge and goodness.”Several students expressed the importance of continued action.“I don’t want people to think that all we do is protest, or have an assembly, and then, we’ve talked about it, we’ve checked off our civil rights action of the year, and we go about our lives as if the problem has been solved,” senior Tori Hewitt said. “That’s not how change works.”Bolden agreed that while the email was an important step to starting a necessary discussion, “it is not enough to read Principal Hassan’s email and think everything will be better. His email was reactive but we need to continue to be proactive about facing these issues.”The recent events have sparked discussion around campus, with many students also posting through social media to express their solidarity with the protestors.“I have heard faculty and students say that they have had really productive conversations on race, the intersection of race and economics and the relationship between race and the law enforcement and judicial systems, all of which are relevant,” Salcedo said.However, conversation has not always been easy. Students and faculty expressed concern that many members of the community were unsure of how to approach conversations on race, whether out of lack of experience or fear of being perceived as ignorant. Some raised issues of apathy when it came to issues of racial prejudice.Senior Danna Shen described how people shied away from discussing the issue in her advisory group. “The fact that the immediate reaction was to run away from talking about it is disappointing and a little bit concerning because these aren’t issues we can afford to be tired of talking about,” she said.Religion instructor Russell Weatherspoon alluded to this difficulty, noting that many people think that teachers “need more training in order to facilitate discussing difficult topics. Students probably need training as well.”Shen felt that some of the reluctance may come from the fact that “[w]e don’t have the tools to talk about race, and we haven’t opened up discussions on how to talk about race.” Because few whites are directly affected by racial profiling, they have the sentiment that “...if things don’t affect us, we don’t want to talk about them.”“Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t talk about what’s going on in Ferguson,” said lower Harrison Money, “because as a white guy who hasn't had any experience being discriminated against, I feel like I might say something wrong.”Conversations about race don’t often come easy, Salcedo said. “I think that at times we’re very committed to our own perspective and because these are emotional issues it’s difficult to have conversations that are conducive and productive without taking things personally,” she said. “Another challenge is that sometimes we may focus on the specific details and lose sight of the bigger picture and the larger context. Some students may not be comfortable talking because they don’t feel equipped or because they are afraid their views may not be accepted.”Senior Mia Collins believes that not enough people have cared about the issue, leading to a difficulty in facilitating conversation. “I think especially if this event may not be something you have experienced or identified as a crisis in your culture, then there is a blockage in perception of sorts,” she said. “I know firsthand, being a person of color, that I can relate to this situation more closely than someone not of color can, not saying that some people who are not of color completely cannot.” She noted, however, that most people at Exeter that she has encountered have been surprisingly liberal and in support of racial justice.”She identified several possible reasons behind this unwillingness. “I haven't actually met a dissenter on this campus yet, but I have felt from some [white people] a hesitance to go too far in depth with respect to their detailed feelings of the cases. I'm not sure if this is due to unfamiliarity with the cases, or a fear of delving into an already sensitive topic. Maybe they don't even have an opinion,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder if they think saying the wrong thing will hurt me.”On the other hand, Hewitt said that she had personally experienced and was unsurprised by the “many (white) dissenting voices, by my detractors.” She continued, “I’m not surprised by the people who claim that racism isn’t a problem, who simultaneously say racist things in the same breath. I wish I were, but the fact is that Exeter, historically, is a very white place. The school has made great strides to change that in recent years, but there is still a significant portion of the population that can at times be overtly racist,” she said.Other students were concerned that some students may avoid talking about race because they no longer see it as a relevant American problem. “A lot of us subconsciously cling to the false belief that we live in a post-racial nation, so race isn't often discussed as a contemporary issue,” said Werthan.In his meditation, Thompson, through his tone of controlled rage, detailed his deep anger and exhaustion following the Michael Brown decision, his personal experiences with racial inequality and America’s history of “incredible ambivalence about black people” and the “absence of an organized attempt to heal.”However, Thompson reflected that, in the face of his exhaustion, he was choosing to remain hopeful. “With that hopefulness I give you a challenge. I challenge all of you who are white to not let this opportunity slide, to learn what it is to be a black American in this country,” he said.“I have not had the best experiences in this community when speaking out about my anger [regarding issues of race], because sometimes people misunderstand. The only thing that allowed me to do that was because I felt like I had no choice. But as I encountered that anger I found hope, compassion and conviction,” Thompson said.Thompson urged Exonians to continue to engage in dialogue. “This is a chance for us to find language that will not offend. It’s not about being politically correct. It is about being open, kind and having humility,” he said. “Every Exonian must live up to their privilege.” He urged all students, of all races, to take advantage of the diversity and opportunities for dialogue provided by Exeter.