UNITED STATES—The issue of race is an ongoing debate in America, and it’s not something that will disappear overnight. Just when we think as a nation we’re making strides something transpires that brings the dialogue about race back to the forefront.
By now most of you have heard about the video footage that was released of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma. The video itself contains some graphic language and imagery that just sends chills down the spine. The fraternity uses the N-word on multiple occasions, indications of lynchings and the notion that no African-American will ever be allowed into the fraternity.
The issue resonates with most Americans saying that enough is enough. Its 2015, the United States is a melting pot and if people can’t comprehend with the factoid that there are other races in this world and that tolerance is key, they won’t learn until they’ve been ridiculed publicly in a way that is impossible to escape.
Without a doubt, it’s phenomenal to hear that the SAE chapter closed the fraternity at the school. It was without a doubt the right thing to do. The video was originally posted by Unheard, an African-American student group at the university. From the looks of the video footage, the person who recorded the footage wants to remain anonymous which I can completely understand. They had to be completely baffled and stunned with what they witnessed on that bus.
Things have gotten a bit tense of the campus, with protests taking place and a bit of vandalism as well. Someone from the university tweeted an image of graffiti on the fraternity house reading “Tear It Down.” The scary aspect is the lives of these students who made the comments are now at risk. Some might argue that they deserve it for their ignorance and insensitivity, and I would agree to some point.
On the other-hand, I’m a believer that violence never solves anything; it just opens the door for more violence to take place. Have you ever heard the phrase, “You don’t throw gasoline onto a fire?” Why? It just ignites the fire bigger than what it was before. There is even some talk from the University’s president about expelling the students in the video. That is a consequence that I am all for.
What better way to teach a lesson than to punish someone where it hurts. This will make those students have to relive their ignorance over and over again. Just imagine having to explain to people time and time again why you were expelled from college. Yeah, that is something you should indeed be embarrassed by.
One would think with the new generation that the level of tolerance would be a bit more open, but as I’ve said time and time again. No one is born a racist, its behavior that is taught. This starts at home. The parents are indeed culpable in some fashion. No one just learns to be racist, but things depicted in the media, newspapers and other forms of ‘entertainment’ don’t help the situation either. If anything, it only perpetuates the crap that so many of us have been fighting for years to stop.
When are Americans going to unite and have a serious, I mean serious, not a one-sided debate like we see time and time again on FOX or CNN news. These things have become so patterned that you can spot the bias from over a mile away. You don’t solve an issue without examining all facets related to that issue. Not just the ones that you are comfortable with, but the things that make you uncomfortable as well.
The incident at the University of Oklahoma has only put into perspective what so many of us already know. The world is still full of racists, and the issue of racism is not going to dissipate into thin air. If we don’t address the issue at hand without whispering about it, we will continue to see the same thing happen over and over again. Tell me, aren’t you tired? Guess what I know I am!
