TO THE EDITOR:
We are in a moment of tense observance of the violent racism that stretches back to the foundation of this nation. Police brutality against bodies of color has become a topic of discussion and outrage over the past six months.
At our university and spaces of higher education across the country, students of color also face violence. We, The Real Silent Sam Coalition and affiliated others, are calling out the continued racialized violence that occurs on our campus. The most recent such incarnations are the Wainstein report, an affirmative action lawsuit, the Board of Governors’ review of research centers representing marginalized identities and the virtual abuse on Yik Yak against students of color on UNC’s campus. These disturbing examples show that no space (even the often-fantasized utopia of higher ed) is free from the racially oppressive structures our nation was founded upon.
On Friday, Jan. 30, at 12:10 p.m., UNC students will reenact the dedication of the Confederate monument on our campus. The monument is falsely represented as honoring the UNC students who fought for the Confederacy. However, it was erected in 1913, at the height of North Carolina’s white supremacy movement to incite fear in the newly freed black population.
We are calling for the renaming of Saunders Hall (which glorifies William L. Saunders, the Grand Dragon and founder of the N.C. Ku Klux Klan) as Hurston Hall. We choose this name to honor legendary writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, who was the first black student to take classes (in secret) at UNC prior to integration.
By choosing to honor Hurston, we students of color honor ourselves and all those who have come before us. She wasn’t given a place on this campus. Now, we give her one. A public university belongs to its students. Yet our school and schools across the country refuse to prioritize students of color and their interests. But we do.
Blanche Brown
Omololu Babatunde
