In case you forgot

On “Duke Blue” Friday, I walked into my closet and grabbed my basketball jersey off the hanger. I wanted to celebrate the Blue Devils, but struggled to endorse a university that, days before, had witnessed yet another blatant act of racism. My mind stirred with circulating pictures of a noose on the Bryan Center plaza. It stirred with the sad cries of outrage from my close friends and peers. By now, main quad was loud with Springternational. I watched the stands, silent. How? I wondered. How can campus appear so resilient? Could its care and understanding last only as long as a 24-hour news cycle? Was the forum enough to clear its conscience? How?

If you are reading this and rolling your eyes at “yet another story about the BC noose” then you are part of the problem. If you are uncomfortable with my calling you the problem, good. Racism is an uncomfortable truth. One that causes many people to walk on eggshells when discussing it. If we continue to address the issue with such caution, however, surface-level discussions will provide no substantial solutions. Too many of us consider the act of talking about institutionalized racism to be a form of anti-white prejudice. White comfort—or lack thereof—however, should in no way govern how and when we talk about race, because nothing can be changed until addressed head on.

Though, in light of the incident last week, my family urged me to keep my opinion to myself, I cannot pretend that silence does the world any good. Silence, in cases like this, is problematic. It is through our complacency that white supremacy is upheld. Even if we react differently, whether leading protests or writing in private, student voices make a difference. With this in mind, I say to my university:

If you are proud to accept an increasing number of black students into your incoming class, you should be proud to do everything in your power to prevent the manifestation of microaggressions on campus. It should not take a noose to bring together a student body and discuss racism. The forum on Wednesday should not have focused on appeasing public perception of Duke. It should not acknowledge that black lives matter to later claim that “all lives matter.” In doing so, it took away any legitimate concern towards the specifically black lives affected by this noose. The forum should not have been to promote a colorblind campus, because inclusivity does not require color negation. It requires the acknowledgement of a basic human right to privilege. Human equity does not require the erasure of differences. It requires a reconstruction of white standard. The forum, unfortunately, fell short in its attempt to comfort those affected by racial oppression. For any who claim, “this isn’t Duke,” I’m here to tell you that it is. This is not an isolated incident. This is the culmination of social ills prevalent in society today. Universities consider themselves strongholds of rational thought. Intellect should prove enough to overcome racism because we are the “post-racial generation.” Sadly, however, by perpetuating this myth, we are ignoring the big elephant in the room. The assumption that racism is something that happens elsewhere is stunting any hopes of progression. The sooner we acknowledge the reality of racism here, the sooner we can establish long-lasting solutions.

Duke: do more than save face in the public eye. Address the needs of your black students, and comfort them with more than empty words, because talk is cheap for students who pay such high tuition. Students can only benefit from cross-cultural interactions if they accept the beautiful differences that come with these cultures. And they can only accept these differences if they are taught to.

It is now five days later and the media frenzy has completely died down. The spotlight: now on the 2015 men’s NCAA basketball championship. Though the news cycle has moved past the incident, you, Duke, should not. Your students remain disheveled, waiting for action from the institution they call home. You proudly represent a diverse student population. Allow this population to proudly represent you. Allow this population the comfort of knowing they matter.

Francis Curiel is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Monday.