University of Chicago's "Intolerance"

Last week, someone showed me this article. It talks about how some students spoke up about the University of Chicago’s “culture of racial intolerance”. Colleges aren't the safest community for people of color, but when people spoke out against this racial intolerance they were subjected to slurs, and violence, and threats of harm and rape. And frankly, that's appalling. The university said that the threats were “unacceptable” and notified law enforcement. But the students say it isn't enough.

Students, daily, are subject to these threats all around the country because they want to see the culture of their school be more accepting. And as spokespeople, they should be looked up to and respected. Not threatened to the point where they don’t leave their homes. To think that threats of rape was a person’s reaction to another students asking for diversity is, to me, frightening. All students have the right to feel safe.

I've rarely have dealt with racism first hand. I’m white passing and go to school in a safe community. But not all people do. Some people have to worry about their safety every day, just because of their skin color. That is something that I will never really understand, but I can understand the harm it places another person in. And a person’s identity is not something to be “tolerated”, but accepted. The culture of a school shouldn't be “tolerant” of people of color, but welcoming. Food for thought.