Racism not UnHeard of on Campus

The University of Oklahoma severed school ties with a national fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, on Monday, March 9, and ordered that its campus house be closed down, after several members took part in a racist chant caught on video. The video, posted online, shows several fraternity members on a bus shouting and chanting, "There will never be a ni**** SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me."

The video was brought to the schools attention Sunday afternoon, and by Sunday night, SAE’s national chapter had suspended the University of Oklahoma members and threatened lifelong suspensions. SAE apologized for the video and said it did not reflect the views of its 15,000 members nationwide. However, President David Boren took it a step further. He called for zero tolerance. He issued this statement:

"To those who have misused their free speech in such a reprehensible way, I have a message for you. You are disgraceful. You have violated all that we sand for. You should not have the privilege of calling yourselves "Sooners". Real Sooners are not racist. Real Sooners are not bigots. Real Sooners believe in equal opportunity. Real Sooners treat all people with respect. Real Sooners love each other take care of each other like family members.

"Effective immediately, all ties and affiliations between this University and the local SAE chapter are hereby severed. I direct that the house be closed and that members will remove their personal belongings from the house by midnight tomorrow. Those needing to make special arrangements for positions shall contact the Dean of Students.

"All of us will redouble our efforts to create the strongest sense of family and community. We vow that we will be an example to the entire country of how to deal with this issue. There must be a zero tolerance for racism everywhere in our nation.

President Boren”

The video was first brought to Boren’s attention by Unheard, an African American student group at the University of Oklahoma. Their group is devoted to fighting and ending racism on campus. A large crowd of students attended a protest at the university, some of them arriving with tape over their mouths with, “Unheard” written across it. Members of the Oklahoma football team, and head coach Bob Stoops also protested, instead of going to practice. Boren also took part in these protests.

Boren has expelled two students identified as leaders of the chant in the video. All of the members have been evicted from the house, and the Greek letters have been removed from the house. The University has cut all ties with the fraternity.

Since the incident, there has been an outpouring of tweets saying, “Racism is alive at the University of Oklahoma.” The harsh reality of the situation is that racism is alive at universities across the country. There have been an uncountable number of racial incidents across campuses. Oklahoma Universities immediate response and reaction sets the standard for other universities. President Boren and the University have stood for zero tolerance when it comes to racism, and that’s exactly how it should be.

Oscars So White

This year’s Oscars were the whitest Oscars since 1998. There was some uproar after the nominees were announced. That day, the twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite started trending, with 95,000 tweets per hour. It was obvious that many people weren’t happy about it.

Last year, 43 million people watched the Academy Awards. This years ceremony reached more than 200 countries around the world. It’s supposed to be a celebration of filmmaking. Regardless of how unintentional, it puts the message across that certain voices matter more than others. So who’s in the academy? White people. The Academy is 94% white, 76% male, and the average member age is over 60.

It would be safe to say that everything about the Oscars is white. Since the first Academy Awards were held in 1929, just 7% of winners in the Best Actor category have been black men. Halle Berry won it in 2002, making her the first, and currently the only, black woman to win the Best Actress award. That same year, Denzel Washington received the Best Actor award. Before him, the only other black actor to have won it was Sidney Poitier, 39 years earlier.

Not only are most of the awards given to white males, most of the nominations for awards are for films centered on white male protagonists. The Academy has overwhelmingly awarded the Oscars to white male-centric films in its 87-year history. So you could argue that the oscars are white and male. It’s an issue that african americans aren’t represented, but it’s also an issue that almost every other race, and women, aren’t equally represented.

The host of the 87th Oscars, Neil Patrick Harris, opened the night with a cringe-worthy joke. “Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest — sorry, brightest,” Harris said. However, the lack of diversity in the Oscar’s is no laughing matter. Instead of using the diversity issue as a source of humor, it should be seen as a serious issue. The Academy Awards reaches many viewers, and they have the ability to influence people around the globe. This awards show had the opportunity to address diversity and face it head on with a positive, and forthcoming attitude, and they failed to do so.