The latest racist events on our campus particularly saddened me. Yes, the racial slurs from election night were troubling too. Yes, the homophobic remarks at “The Laramie Project” hurt me as well. However, hanging a noose and old Georgia flag (prominently featuring the Confederate battle flag) on our statue of James Meredith is completely different. It was a symbolic lynching. It was an action to incite fear in the minds of our black students — it was meant to intimidate them.
It honestly breaks my heart that many of my friends felt unsafe on our campus in the hours following the symbolic lynching, and now, days following the symbolic lynching, still feel uncomfortable. But who can blame them? Of course I’ll never know how it feels to be black on this campus. I’ll never know how it feels to be called a racial slur, how it feels to see my state flag and be reminded every time that my ancestors were once enslaved. I’ll never know how it feels to fear for my safety because of the color of my skin. My white privilege, sadly, has insulated me from racial prejudice. It’s not right, but it’s reality in today’s America.
However, despite white privilege, I’m outraged. We all should be. And frankly, if you’re not outraged you’re simply not watching. We should all be saddened and mad that members of our “Ole Miss family” sometimes feel unsafe on our campus simply because of their race. I’m outraged that many of my friends had to weigh the decision to come to Ole Miss to get the best education they could get in Mississippi, knowing that there was a good chance that any day they could be a victim of prejudice, hatred or even a hate crime. We white students at Ole Miss don’t have to look at that cost-benefit analysis.
Most of our hearts don’t sink every time we walk by Vardaman Hall knowing he was a man who threatened to lynch every black person in Mississippi who sought the right to vote. Yet we honor him with a building. Most of our hearts don’t sink at events in the Johnson Commons Ballroom, knowing he was a man who physically blocked James Meredith from entering our campus and went to great lengths to keep this institution segregated. Yet we honor him with a ballroom. And most of our hearts don’t sink when we hear our band play “Dixie” at football games, knowing it is a song rooted in racism, hatred and bigotry.
So many people have looked at me as some Yankee who just doesn’t understand the “heritage” behind some of Ole Miss’ traditions. However, the “heritage” we celebrate on this campus isn’t our entire heritage — it’s the heritage of white, affluent Mississippi. Mississippi was a black-majority state at one time. It still is the state with the highest percentage of black residents in the United States. Where are the celebrations of black Mississippi’s heritage on our campus? We play “Dixie” at our football games, but if we played a black nationalist anthem our alumni would go nuts. We have a monument on our campus essentially dedicated to the Confederacy, yet we have no monument dedicated to African slaves who built this institution and state. We have buildings dedicated to controversial figures like Vardaman and Johnson, but where are our buildings dedicated to Mississippians like Medgar and Myrlie Evers?
I’m thankful our chancellor and administrators are working to move our university forward. But the administration can only do so much. It’s time for our students and alumni to be outraged with the racial climate and glacial pace of progress on this campus. Our university can no longer be an incubator for racism. Of course we’ve come far, but we’re so far behind. Let’s celebrate the black heritage of Mississippi in months other than Black History Month. Let’s name our new student union after a black alumnus of Ole Miss.
Don’t get me wrong — I truly love Ole Miss and Mississippi. I love it enough to try my hardest to make it better. I love many of our traditions and appreciate Mississippi’s unique heritage. However, it would be in our university’s best interest to celebrate heritage that’s inclusive of all Mississippians, not just a few.
The status quo is unacceptable.
Sean Higgins is a junior political science major from Brookings, S.D.
