Campus Hate Crime

Race is a sensitive issue. Before coming to the U.S., I regard racial issue as inquisitive but unimportant. To me, Cambodia is a homogenous country – I am convinced of this notion since I was born. And while I am aware that there are some small portions of ethnic groups other than the Cambodians/Khmers living in the country, school textbooks and national media hardly include the information relevant to minority groups residing across the country. Up until now, to what extent these groups of people (Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotians, Muslim communities and tribal people) have been discriminated against or mistreated by the dominant group remains a rarely touched on topic. In fact, tracing back the history of my ancestors tells me that I belong to a mixture of Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese origins. However, since the way I look, behave, or speak does not make me any different from the surrounding majority, I often regard the occasionally encountered mistreatments as some kind of misunderstandings rather than racial discriminations.

Being caught up in a context as diverse and complex as the U.S makes me feel different, however. From the first day of my graduate class, I start to feel uncomfortable in a context where I cannot locate familiar faces: those of Asian students other than myself and a couple of others. (Everytime I find a Cambodian, I am just as pleased as finding a million dollars.) The more I read news and articles describing people from one racial group being harassed by another, the more I feel discrimination in the U.S. is on the rise.

As a matter of fact, Americans are divided into two big groups–the liberal and conservative. The liberal are open-minded and normally live in cities or towns along the coasts, where the demographic makeup is highly diverse. The conservative stick to the ideology of white superiority and mostly reside in the midwest and southern parts of the United States. The fact that Boston College is on the east coast convinced me that racial harrassment should never happen here.

On the other hand, one recent on-campus incident gave me a big shock. Approximately two weeks ago, the Heights, BC’s independent student newspaper, reported a hate crime involving two groups of students in Roncalli Hall, one of BC’s residence halls. One of the students involved, a black, female sophomore, claimed that she and four other friends were in the hall when a female white student, who appeared to be intoxicated, physically assaulted and yelled several racially-charged slurs at them.

The news sparked a last minute rally on campus the next day, where students called for a “clear and effective hate crime protocol.” As quoted by the Heights, Omolara Bewaji, 2005-2006 president of AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) said:

We are speaking out against the fact that there is no public or institutional hate crime protocol. It seems notices for hate crime are more insulated, when there should be University notices on the same scale as for a sexual assault.

Hundreds of students turned out for a rally in response to the incident.

Following the rally came a series of other events. Around midnight the following night, fliers which read, “Join the White Alliance–’Forge A Superior World,’” were found on the main doors of buildings across the campus. The fliers advertised a meeting the next day to debate the merit of the civil right activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Day–which was reported never to happen. Somehow, the fliers were removed promptly by the campus police.

Until yesterday, the situation seemed to calm down. When arriving at school, I again was surprised to see a new series of fliers, most of which were testimonies from fellow students of colors, on doors and walls around campus. Passing out those fliers at the dining halls were also some white students. Personally, I found this campaign rather intriguing, and I would give my full support for it, in the way that minority students like them as well as some of the majority white students have come together and say their mind out loud.

Here I am quoting one of them:

The vast majority of the comments come from those I easily consider friends. I am a constant witness and target of jokes concerning stereotypical views of Hispanics; the most prevalent referring to preconceived notions that we are uneducated and dirty people with no regard for the law. The worst barbs are those that imply that my acceptance to Boston College was based solely on affirmative action. This displays the narrow-mindedness and ignorance that plague this campus.

-Elvis Jocol, CSOM 2008

All of these made me realize that no matter where it is, rich or poor , developed or third world nations, discrimination is still prevalent. I began to question myself why we all can’t simply live happily together as one human race. If we look back at the world’s history, discrimination has never given us any benefits. And the roots of major wars were due to it. I believe that only when we all open our mind and accept other people, who are physically, socially and culturally different from us, then can we have a peaceful and loving world.

I thus devote this post to that.