Huffington Post reports on a poster campaign from a ten member Ohio University student group Students Teaching Against Racism
The photos were created by the student organization at Ohio University called Students Teaching Against Racism (STARS). Their mission is “to educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”
When they posted this campaign to the president of the group’s tumblr page they did not anticipate the strong response they would get; the images spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. One writer, who reblogged the post shortly after it was published, received over 8,000 views in one day and had to disable her comments.
From Colorlines:
An awful lot of people agree with the infamous words of “Mean Girls” character Cady: “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” She could have gotten more agreement still by adding, “Halloween is the one night a year when people think it’s OK to dress in totally inappropriate and racist costumes.”
Ohio University student Sarah Williams says she was at a Halloween party last year when she snapped a picture of someone in black face. “It angers me and it’s unacceptable,” Williams said in an interview with Colorlines.com on Monday. So she and some fellow students decided to do something about it—and they’ve captured national attention in the process.
See all the photos here.
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Kudos to the students at The Ohio University, my daughter's alma mater. They've got it right, and I thank them for sharing their insights with the rest of the world.
These posters would make a terrific conversation starter at Youth Groups, Vestry meetings, Adult Forums and other places. An opportunity for folks everywhere to take ten or fifteen minutes to talk with friends and colleagues about how they personally are weighing in on interrupting racist comments and actions wherever they encounter them.
Interrupting racism and dismantling unjust institutions that continue racism is everyone's job, and it is far from over. It is only through daily, constant vigilance against the sinful evil of racism that we as the human "race" will progress to the beloved community.
Cue the accusations of "oversensitivity" and "political correctness" in 3, 2, 1.....
I applaud these young people for taking a stand. If the comments I saw at Huffpo and on Facebook about this are any indication, they have hit a nerve. The immediate negative backlash from whites was as predictable as it is regrettable. And the expressions of relief that "someone FINALLY gets this!" from people of color made me sad.
From a faith context, this campaign would be a great discussion starter for a parish Christian education course on treating others as we would be treated.