HUNDREDS RALLY AT SDSU FOR MISSOURI STATE’S MINORITY STUDENTS

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East County Magazine

November 13, 2015 (San Diego) – Hundreds of San Diego State students, white and black, joined together yesterday in a rally to support black students facing extreme racism and death threats at Missouri State University, which has been in lockdown amid racial strife.

“To the students of color at Mizzou, San Diego State University stands with you in solidarity. To those who would threaten their sense of safety, we are watching. #‎ConcernedStudent1950 #‎InSolidarityWithMizzou,” states text posted on YouTube along with a video.  The SDSU students also protested incidents of “racial harassment, racial profiling by campus police, and racial discrimination in acceptance and hiring as experienced by our own students, staff and faculty of color,” the invitation from organizers stated.

The group set up a Facebook page and urged others in the community to posted messages using the hashtags #ConcernedStudent1950, #BlackCollegiateSolidarity, and #ISupportJonathonButler.

University of Missouri’s president and chancellor have resigned over handling of racial incidents, after students staged a hunger strike and football players threatened to walk out, the Washington Post has reported.

MoveOn has also weighed in with a petition started by Tociana Watley calling for the government to establish a zero tolerance policy on racial threats, slurs and discrimination. 

She writes, “Black students—who pay tuition just like their white counterparts—are leaving the University of Missouri because of active death threats against them. The school is on lockdown, classes have been cancelled, white students are walking around shouting "white power," and bricks have been thrown through windows—all in the wake of the university chancellor stepping down and the president resigning..Enough people have been killed in 2015. Let’s end this trend of destruction against Black lives and stand with students at the University of Missouri.”

Watley adds that racism has become “pervasive, and threats and abuse are rampant. It's the worst we've seen in years…We cannot afford to live in denial or sit back and wait for others to act.”


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