This letter is in response to the column “First Amendment principles trump Carolinian Creed’s demand for respect” that ran on Monday, April 6.
I swore off opinion articles and subsequent comments long ago; however, the debate surrounding SAE and the recent suspension of the USC student managed to grasp my attention. Here we are debating if an institution has the power to punish students for their speech and, once again, overlooking the heart of the issue.
We are students, not Supreme Court justices. Deciding what is or is not constitutional is far above our education and pay grade. More importantly, arguing legality ignores the elephant in the room.
You can argue that you did not have any connection to the chants of SAE, but the remarks in question happened on our campus. We can no longer continue to have this conversation without placing it in its proper context. Racial tensions are here.
Perhaps you have never had the pleasure of having n----- yelled at you while walking from Strom Thurmond, but I’m sure you’ve seen it on Yik Yak. Racism and discrimination happen every day. On this campus.
Enough about the Constitution. Let’s talk about race. Systematic oppression. Privilege. Appropriation. Let’s get a little uncomfortable.
What constitutes racism? Just actions or do words count? Is it acceptable to use racial slurs (or any slur) if you don’t say it with the intent to be racist?
Why does a community reclaim a word? (See “slut walks.”) What does that mean to you?
Do you speak up when you see racial slurs being used to disrespect and attack other students? Why or why not?
How many minority students are in your class right now? In your student organization? Why is that? Do you care?
Ask yourself these questions. Ask your friends. Ask someone with a different racial identity from your own. If our Carolina Core provided the same opportunities for students to participate in minority studies as it does astronomy courses, we may have some common ground to begin exploring our understanding of race. Unfortunately, we must pursue this knowledge on our own.
My goal is not to find answers for you — Google is free. Instead, I urge you to find the answers that fit your beliefs. Maybe you could care less if black students find the word n----- offensive. Maybe you feel the exact opposite.
Either way, we must take that crucial first step of beginning the conversation. For the sake of our futures and that of our university, we must be willing to place the Southern "politeness” aside and start asking the tough questions.
— Francine Tamakloe, third-year marketing student