Despite numerous incidences of bigotry on campus and the outrage that has stemmed from it, this behavior still persists.

Most recently, the social media application Yik Yak was used by anonymous users to spew their racist agendas and views. In the past week alone, numerous incidences of hate have occurred on this medium. Some users on Yik Yak have attacked Latino students during an annual fraternal step show, as well as students of color during a rally.

The most disheartening of the posts was, “what people? I just see monkeys,” said one user in a comment. The responses to these statements have ranged from agreeance to support of what is being said and further degradation. Unfortunately, these comments are just a few of many that have surfaced by people on the app. These statements have left some minority students feeling as if they are a dot in a pool full of racists, to say the least.

The Syracuse University unit of the NAACP would like to know, why is campus a safe haven for these racist ideologies and views? Why are students that are supposed to be “educated” making narrow-minded statements anonymously on social media? When are these injustices going to end? And lastly, why are these injustices not being addressed by the administration? Are we just waiting for another Hannah Strong incident or are preventive hate-speech initiatives going to be taken?

As an organization, we believe that this kind of behavior should not and cannot continue to be fostered on this campus. It creates a hostile environment for students of color and only increases tensions between minorities and white students. College should be a place where people can freely protest, step and simply conjugate without having to be judged and criticized solely because of the color of their skin.

We do not believe that Yik Yak was created for the purpose of racism, but on this campus that is what it is being used for, in addition to other sexist and homophobic slander. This is NOT OKAY and cannot continue into the next semester or for future students to bear witness to. The fact that this is happening is a problem, but the bigger issue is that it is not being addressed by the administration.

Sincerely,
Olivia Johnson
The President of the NAACP