American University in Washington, D.C. is at the center of its second racially driven hate act in eight months.
According to a statement released by the university, bananas were left hanging from what was designed to look like nooses on three separate locations on campus.
The bananas were “marked with the letters AKA”, the letters of a predominantly black sorority.
Last September, similar incidents occurred at American including an episode when someone threw a rotten banana at a student..
Students took to social media to express their anger with the racially charged incident.
It’s finals week and instead of studying, black girls are wondering who is going around scaring them, THIS IS UNFAIR! @AmericanU
— calkie $wag di$trict (@Calkielator_97) May 1, 2017
@AmericanU These incidents have happened over and over again and AU management pretend nothing happened. Shame on @AmericanU .
— luka (@lukssii) May 1, 2017
i’m gonna be fucking sick @AmericanU if this keeps happening i might as well leave this school now. you must not need my money.
— shut up and listen (@kandall44) May 1, 2017
@annamgardner_ @AmericanU this echoes an incident in September and anyone responsible DOES NOT belong in our community.
— Chelsea Cirruzzo (@ChelseaCirruzzo) May 1, 2017
@AmericanU Those responsible should be expelled and brought up on criminal charges. Absolutely unacceptable.
— Kenny Lorber (@KMLorbz) May 1, 2017
American’s student body president Taylor Dumpson (who happens to be the college’s first black woman SGA president) released a statement about the incident.
“It is disheartening and immensely frustrating that we are still dealing with this issue after recent conversations, dialogues, and town halls surrounding race relations on campus,” Dumpson said. “But this is exactly why we need to do more than just have conversations but move in a direction towards more tangible solutions to prevent incidents like these from occurring in the future.”
Cover Photo Credit: American University/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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‘George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People’: Ten Year Anniversary Of Kanye’s Iconic TV Moment
10 years ago today, Kanye West went on live television and told the world that George Bush doesn’t care about black people.
On September 2, 2005, four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the nation, in front of 8.5 million viewers, his sentiment reflected the frustrations of the American people in response to the failure of the federal government to provide aid to the thousands of victims of the category 5 hurricane.
“I hate the way they portray us in the media,” West said during the Concert For Hurricane Relief, NBC’s live broadcast to aid victims. “If you see a black family it says they’re looting, if you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”
At the time, the show’s producers and viewers dubbed the moment as controversial television. Today, it is considered one of the most iconic moments in television history.
Looking back ten years later, we can see how the rest of West’s speech was equally controversial to the George Bush line, as he criticized the Iraq war and acknowledged the disparity in the way media treats black victims and white victims.
Ten years later, #Bushdid911 broke barriers of conspiracy theory status to becoming a widespread Internet movement and joke in its own right. As the topic of police brutality and the killing of black people at the hands of the state have been brought to the forefront of political discussion, West’s ideas on the unfair media portrayal of black people are increasingly relevant today.
“We realize that a lot of people that could help right now are at war fighting another way—they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us,” West said in 2005.
West’s veracity in that moment has become a casual topic in the realm of pop culture as well. Two nights ago at the MTV Video Music Awards, West announced he’s running for president in 2020. Jokes aside about the delivery of his speech, West’s raw emotions have cascaded into a cultural movement for a younger generation to fight to be heard.
“This is a new mentality. We’re not gonna control our kids with brands. We not gonna teach low self-esteem and hate to our kids,” West said at the VMA’s. “We gonna teach our kids that they can be something. We gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for theyself! We gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves!”
While West isn’t necessarily a master of delivery in these unplanned and sincere moments, maybe he doesn’t have to be, as long as we take a step back and listen.
What do you think about Kanye West’s role in American political discourse? Tell us in the comments below.
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The “Cuban Confederate” Was Arrested For Attempting To Incite A Riot In Hollywood
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The Sims 4 Will Now Give Sims “Customizable” Genders
The realm of virtual reality knows no bounds, and that now includes the boundaries of gender.
On June 3rd EA Games announced their newest update of The Sims 4 will now have the option to Customize your Sim’s gender.
In the original gameplay while creating your Sim although you could alter their physical appearance almost any way you pleased, there was only a “male” and “female” option when selecting their gender.
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This was true in all four versions of the game until this recent update.
But now, you can still choose the traditional male and female options, but now may also “Customize Gender.”
This option asks a variety of questions about the Sim you are creating including if your Sim has a more feminine or masculine frame, what their toilet behaviors are, and whether or not the Sim is able to get pregnant.
Clothing selections will also not be limited based on a male or female Sim and will be able to be worn by any Sim.
On their official website, thesims.com, this is what the team had to say about the newest update:
“The Sims is made by a diverse team for a diverse audience, and it’s really important to us that players are able to be creative and express themselves through our games. We want to make sure players can create characters they can identify with or relate to through powerful tools that give them influence over a Sims gender, age, ethnicity, body type and more.”
This update can be done for anyone who currently owns the Sims 4 game, and will a permanent feature to any future buyers of the game.
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Cover Photo Credit: EA Games
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