Students, alumni share experiences of racism at SU through Instagram
The Daily Orange
Both accounts have expanded rapidly and have reached several thousand followers since their creation.
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To the owner of the Instagram account @blackatcuse, racism at Syracuse University is like maggots.
“Only in the light can you crush the maggots,” the owner of @blackatcuse said in a message to The Daily Orange. “If you don’t know it’s there, you can’t get them out.”
@blackatcuse is one of two Instagram accounts owned by SU students that have recently emerged as spaces for community members of color to share their experiences with racism on campus. Similar pages have appeared for colleges and universities across the country, including Cornell and Colgate universities, in the wake of nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
The two accounts — @blackatcuse and @bipoc.syracuse — were created within one day of each other and feature stories about racism at SU that students, who are often anonymous, send to the account owners. The owners of both accounts requested to remain anonymous for this story due to safety concerns.
The pages are a reaction to SU’s response to the campus protests that #NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, held this year, the owner of @bipoc.syracuse said. BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color.
The movement held a sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch in November and at Crouse-Hinds Hall in February to protest SU’s response to a slew of racist and hate-related incidents reported on or near campus during the academic year. SU placed more than 30 organizers under interim suspension in February for remaining in Crouse-Hinds past closing, lifting the suspensions a day later.
The creators of @blackatcuse and @bipoc.syracuse did not plan to create two separate accounts for reporting racism at SU, but having both makes sharing more of the submissions they receive easier, they said.
“(The owner of @bipoc.syracuse) started their account the day after mine, and it lessens the load to have two (because we get a lot) of submissions,” the owner of @blackatcuse said. “They also have a different racial background than I do so they obviously have a slightly different perspective on stuff and I think that helps.”
Both accounts have expanded rapidly and have reached several thousand followers since their creation in mid-June. For about every three submissions they receive, the owner of @blackatcuse usually publishes one. If two submissions describe the same incident, the account will only publish one.
Students can submit their stories to the accounts anonymously, although some current and former students have opted to include their name or graduation year. The owner of @bipoc.syracuse, who has only published one submission with a name, said they prefer to keep posts mostly anonymous both to avoid legalities and to prevent “doxxing culture.”
Romane Gutenbrunner, a Class of 2020 graduate, submitted an experience from class to @blackatcuse.
A submission to @bipoc.syracuse from Samatha Sanchez, who graduated from SU in 2019.
Doxxing refers to the publication of an individual’s personally-identifying or private information on the internet without consent. @bipoc.syracuse’s owner said they’ve also avoided publishing videos of students participating in racist behaviors because they believe doxxing can do more harm than good.
“I believe (doxxing) creates a lot more backlash than it does accountability in that person’s mind,” the owner of @bipoc.syracuse said. “We need to actively reach out and engage with the individual rather than just put them on blast. If you put them on blast, then they’re not going to want to learn.”
@blackatcuse’s owner takes a different approach to naming alleged perpetrators of racist actions. When the account receives a submission that calls a person or organization out by name, the owner uses their best judgement to determine the value in including the name, they said.
“If I have reason to believe that it would do more harm to let them off the hook than to attempt to name them, I attempt to name,” they said. “If I believe it would not do harm, I do not attempt to name.”
Racist experiences that students have shared through the accounts include encounters with other students, roommates and SU faculty members. Across both accounts, only five submissions have included the name of the individual who submitted the story.
A @blackatcuse submission from Olivia Johnson, a 2016 SU graduate.
SU alumnus Eric Derachio Jackson Jr. submitted an experience to @blackatcuse.
Several submissions shared through the accounts have included references to racist incidents involving SU Greek life. The stories range from Greek organizations denying admission to students of color to students in Greek life using racial slurs.
Stories shared on both accounts have mentioned at least 10 Greek organizations by name.
@blactatcuse posted a screenshot of an interaction with SU sorority Alpha Gamma Delta.
The most rewarding part of running the @bipoc.syracuse account has been witnessing the healing that occurs in response to the posts, the owner said. They realized the impact @bipoc.syracuse could have when a student who submitted their experience received an apology from a person who had hurt them during their time at SU.
A friend of the student’s roommate had used racist language around and about the student, the owner of @bipoc.syracuse said. After @bipoc.syracuse’s owner posted the story, the student received a message from their roommate apologizing for the incident.
“I know there was a lot of healing that came from that conversation for that student,” @bipoc.syracuse’s owner said. “That was the first positive impact message that I got.”
The owner of @bipoc.syracuse has received feedback from several students who have submitted their experiences and have received apologies from the people who hurt them. The stories can help people of color realize that they are not alone in their experiences, they said.
The comments section on @bipoc.syracuse’s posts has also provided a space for followers to engage in discussions about race, the owner said. While troll accounts may leave hurtful comments, there has also been a lot of constructive discussion in response to the page’s posts, they said.
“To see the good that can come from (this account) makes it all worth it,” @bipoc.syracuse’s owner said. “It’s worth the hate, it’s worth the trolls, it’s worth the gaslighting, it’s worth the public guilt-tripping, it’s worth everything to have others who know they matter and I matter, and that they have a voice now if they didn’t before.”
@blackatcuse’s owner knows their account is making a difference. For every negative comment they receive on a post, they get at least two comments from people expressing gratitude, they said.
The owners of both accounts hope the stories they share influence SU administration. The administration needs to take direct action to improve the lives of people of color in the SU community, even if that means losing money, @bipoc.syracuse’s owner said.
“People are suffering, traumatized, genuinely f***ed up about how they’ve been treated. And for so long they’ve been silenced,” @blackatcuse’s owner said. “But if we can actually have (Black and Indigenous people of color’s) voices listened to, I think the natural progression is for changes to follow.”
Published on July 19, 2020 at 8:49 pm
Contact Mira: mlberenb@syr.edu
