Waving banners and chanting "Black issues, American issues," several dozen students and faculty members took to the Main West Quadrangle yesterday to denounce controversial comments made last week by former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett.
On his radio show, "Morning in America," Bennett sparked outrage over a racially charged statement.
"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in the country, and your crime rate would go down," Bennett said.
In response, several concerned students, many of whom are affiliated with Black Student Alliance, organized an hour-long demonstration to raise awareness about and protest Bennett's comments.
The demonstration was part of a national effort that took place on several college campuses yesterday.
Rukayya Furo, a senior and executive vice president of BSA, said she organized the protest at Duke in hopes of drawing as many students' attention as possible.
"The main goal was to promote awareness because a lot of people had not heard about what happened, not just black students but students in general," Furo said.
Though the event was coordinated by students who are members of BSA, Furo emphasized that participation was open to the entire Duke community.
"BSA put up flyers and passed out handbills, but we did not want to limit the demonstration to just BSA members," she said. "We wanted other students to feel welcome, so it was an open protest."
Demonstration organizers said the protest was meant to encourage community involvement, not undermine free speech.
"You just have to have some kind of sensitivity about what you're saying. Even though [Bennett] might not have meant it, he should have used a little more common sense," senior Marcus Peterson said. "What people hear, what people see, that's an affirmation. Who knows how many people heard what was said and were sitting there, nodding their heads? Our message was that we need to wake up as a Duke community and realize what's going on."
Bennett, who was scheduled to speak this week at the University of Cincinnati, cancelled his appearance Sunday due to the controversy and resulting protests planned by some UC students.
"The current controversy that has arisen around comments I made on my radio show, based on a willful distortion of what I said, will take away from the serious discussion I want to engage in with the students and community at the University of Cincinnati,'' Bennett said in a statement released by the UC College Republicans.
Some students at the Duke protest said they did not understand how Bennett's comments could have been misconstrued.
Another concern for some was the appearance of flyers reading "Stop Self Segregating" on the Class of 1948 bench next to the West Campus Union-which many students refer to as "the black bench." No one has claimed responsibility for the flyers.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, recently told The Chronicle that although he encourages "interactive diversity," he also supports the existence of "the black bench."
"It's a ceremonial opportunity for African-American students at Duke to feel like there's a place that represents the difficulty it was for African-American students to come to Duke. That doesn't mean that African American students are in isolation," he said. "I think the folks who are critical don't understand that symbolism. [They] also don't understand that African- American students are with white students all the time-you can't avoid it if you're in class here."
Senior Wintta Woldemariam, president of BSA, said she thinks students rarely reflect on themselves when accusing others of "self-segregation."
"Self-segregation is a term that's completely blown out of proportion," she said. "Your friends are your friends, the cards fall how they fall. It's a lot simpler than we think it is. I don't think there are a lot of people walking around thinking 'Oh, I hate white people, I hate black people.'"
Woldemariam and Moneta also noted that ethnic background is one of many factors that determine the interests that unite people in groups.
"People seek community in different ways, whether it's through sororities, sports or other groups. It's just one particular facet of your identity," Woldemariam said.
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