WHAT’S INSIDE
NEWS 1–2
SPORTS 4–5
CULTURE 6–8 I SSU E
31
The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E DECEMBER 14, 2009
ARBITERONLINE.COM
“No one is free while others are oppressed”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Hands
ACROSS
campus Campus unites to combat intolerance
S
SHANNON MORGAN Editor in Chief
ome people have the privilege to pick up the newspaper and read a sentence like “Once you go black, we don’t want you back,” and think, “that’s silly” then walk away. Others read it and rightfully feel targeted, attacked, unsafe and segregated. More than 200 people took part in the Hands Across Campus Rally (HACR) Friday in response to the series of homophobic and racist fliers that were distributed on campus and illegally inserted into copies of The Arbiter. In the short span of 24 hours, a coalition of students, faculty and staff organized HACR. In 30 minutes the coalition collected 305 signatures on the Hands Across Campus Solidarity Statement. Every hour since, I receive an average of 10 e-mails from individuals wishing to electronically sign. In the hours since HACR, I’ve also had some folks ask, “Why have a rally?” For some, it was to stand against racism and homophobia. For others it was against hate, oppression and intolerance or to send a message to the people who made the fliers. For me HACR was a way to let folks in the groups that the flier targeted know
that there are a lot of people who accept them and want them to feel safe, not only on campus, but in our community. Because of the veil of anonymity the perpetrators of the hate speech enjoy, the people they targeted were forced to look around and wonder, “Did one of my classmates or colleagues do this? Is this how everyone feels? Am I safe here?” That is unacceptable. That is a reason to rally. I never expected HACR would change the minds of the folks who made the fliers. I am not audacious enough to think a rally will scare them, or entice them to shed their anonymity and engage in reasoned discourse about the differences in our worldviews. Hands Across Campus was a chance to say, “What this flier says is not OK. It does not represent our university, this state or the values of this country.” The rally was a chance to shine a light on the power of having conviction in your ideas. The rally was a chance to publicly show that our support for diversity and tolerance is not just something we say, but something we are willing to take action to protect. We must not work to silence or intimidate those who are different than us, but instead engage in
See INTOLERANCE I page 2
Letter to the editor:
Response to the hate-fliers
I
will not tolerate hate on BSU’s campus. I will stand for unity, and reconciliation! It’s time to move forward! The flyer was very hurtful and upsetting, however the best way to fight this hate is to create positive responses. The best thing for me to do, as a black woman on campus, is to promote more so of a positive image of my group. Using statistics on such a serious issue such as AIDS was a true low blow! AIDS/HIV is real and serious! It’s a human disease, it’s not about race. The association of AIDS/HIV as being a black disease and stating that “blacks are walking STD factories, was extremely insulting: not all blacks are sexually active. The tactics used were immoral and unjust. The underlining hate that has been illuminated makes me cry out more for us as a
See HATE-FLIERS I page 2
Visit arbiteronline.com to watch a video, see photos of the rally, view President Obama’s speech on race and other related content.
The Arbiter ! arbiteronline.com