We, members of the Cadet Campaign and students of Syracuse University, are outraged about the offensive, racial undertones of The Kumquat’s “The Kumquacracy Forum” that occurred on the night of April 14 in Maxwell Auditorium.

In The Kumquat’s version of a satirical Student Association debate, a member of The Kumquat, a Caucasian male “mock-debated” alongside real candidates running for Student Association president. Throughout the debate, the satirical candidate dramatized his answers and comments, often rants about people and issues unrelated to the actual questions.

But the essence of the event, which each of us found problematic and personally offensive, was the random cues of explicit clips of popular rap music and the stereotypical use of Ebonics by the satirical candidate. These episodes of “dapping” up the audience and randomly saying “swag” at the end of sentences drew laughter from members of The Kumquat and everyone in the audience, including the candidates on stage: Aysha Seedat, Jesse Nichols and Moke Hein and AJ Abell and Jon Dawson. Everyone laughed except us — the only three African American and two Latino students in attendance.

Although The Kumquat and other candidates said they meant no harm by encouraging and laughing at these racial microagresssions and cultural appropriations, this did not remove the stings of offense that each of us felt and the memories of discriminatory behaviors that we have become victim to throughout our time at SU.

After leaving the debate, a member of our campaign was called the N-word on the street. A white male, assumed to be a student, shouted the racial slur from the window of a green Jeep on Waverly Avenue. We mention this to emphasize that SU still has more work to do to create safe environments and equal opportunities for its students of color. But how can candidates who laugh at these offensive stereotypes begin to understand and create a safer environment that champions diversity and transparency?

We would be remiss not to mention that no one from our campaign was formally invited to the debate. All other candidates were contacted, some up to a week prior to the event. When asked why Tatiana and Fatima were not invited, a member of The Kumquat responded that they did not know they were running.

We insist that The Kumquat and all three of the presidential tickets make an apology on behalf of the students who took offense to the stereotypical antics.

The Cadet Campaign

Published on April 15, 2015 at 11:21 pm