For many minority students who have attended the University of Missouri, the experience has been one in which racial tension and at times, even abuse have simply been a part of life on campus. In recent years it seems as though the racist behavior from certain students on the campus has grown more rampant and vociferous. A 2010 incident involving two white students placing cotton balls on the lawn outside of a campus black culture center and a much more recent incident involving someone smearing a swastika composed of human feces on a dorm wall paint a vivid picture of the climate at Mizzou.
After days of protests calling for the job of a slow to action and insensitive school president involving an incredibly admirable and inspiring hunger strike from a 25 year old graduate student, the final domino fell. One of the university's largest revenue sources, the football team, decided to join the protests and stop all team activities with full support from coach Gary Pinkel until the school president resigned. They say money talks, but the possibility of heavy scrutiny and bad exposure were huge in the success of the protests when school president Tim Wolfe stepped down today.
A group of young students stood up in unison against a man who allowed a culture of racism to persist in a place that was supposedly a safe space devoted to being inclusive and open-minded. On top of that, this protest was totally peaceful, and yet, the "criticism" has poured in as heavy as ever. During the well-documented protests in Baltimore and Ferguson many people on both sides of the issue, black and white denounced the violence (whilst ignoring the peaceful protests in both instances) shouting that "peaceful protest" was the only way to go. During both events all we heard was that "MLK was peaceful, and that's why he was successful" and "No one will listen if you're not peaceful" among other things. Everything we've heard over the past couple of spring and summer seasons indicate that in order to be acceptable and respected by certain segments of our populous we must be peaceful in voicing our frustrations.
Well here we are, the students at Mizzou protested as peacefully as possible, yet the criticism is just as harsh as ever. From people demanding that the football players who protested have their scholarships revoked to folks calling protesters "entitled", "terrorists", "vile", and "immoral", the incoming hate is just as flagrant as it was during Baltimore and Ferguson and that shows us why this is such an important moment. The critics who begged for peaceful protest were never actually concerned with peaceful protests, their objective was to silence those who dare to challenge the status quo, their objective was to silence those of us who challenge them and force them into uncomfortable situations. These silencing tactics from the opponents of those who oppose racism are about sustaining the reality of white supremacy and in exposing this, we take a step forward.
When we can easily cut through the bullshit talking points and tired antiquities of those who oppose progress we really have a chance to move forward. When the attempts to silence are seen for what they are, people opposing progress have no ground to stand on. At the end of the day, logic must win out, and the students at Mizzou have logic on their side while their opponents have ignorance and their biases that are protected by the little bubble they all live in. The "respectability" fallacy has once again been exposed for what it always has been and more than anything, that's what I most take away from this moment in history. It isn't the only important angle to this story, but it sure is one worth noting.
