The University of Missouri is in crisis, or is it? If I was wishfully thinking, I'd say the horrendous news coming from their campus involving racism and hate implied a crisis, but a crisis - by definition - has a temporal component to it that denotes non-permanence. A crisis can not be a status quo. So is there a crisis at the University of Missouri, or is the racial unrest happening there just the status quo at that university (and the country in general)?
What we do know, is that the University of Missouri allowed students of color, specifically black students, to attend beginning in 1950. Yet today, in 2015, a student of color can still not walk through campus without fear of being called the N-word, or seeing a swastika smeared in feces on a wall. Students that have been on campus for years speak of systemic and institutional racism that has gone unchallenged and unchecked by the university administration. Again, is this a crisis if this is simply a consistent microcosm of general Missourian or American society? But I digress.
The fact is that what is happening more broadly withing the protests at the University of Missouri mirrors larger movements happening throughout the country. Over the last two years - specifically since the shooting death of Michael Brown - ironically - in Missouri, and on the heals of the Occupy movement that swept the country, people (especially younger generations and millennials) have been standing up and fighting for a voice in the political arena beyond a vote (which many don't believe carries any power). This has cascaded to the college campus in Columbia, in which students stood up and fought for their rights in the face of racial prejudice.
What we do know, is that the University of Missouri allowed students of color, specifically black students, to attend beginning in 1950. Yet today, in 2015, a student of color can still not walk through campus without fear of being called the N-word, or seeing a swastika smeared in feces on a wall. Students that have been on campus for years speak of systemic and institutional racism that has gone unchallenged and unchecked by the university administration. Again, is this a crisis if this is simply a consistent microcosm of general Missourian or American society? But I digress.
The fact is that what is happening more broadly withing the protests at the University of Missouri mirrors larger movements happening throughout the country. Over the last two years - specifically since the shooting death of Michael Brown - ironically - in Missouri, and on the heals of the Occupy movement that swept the country, people (especially younger generations and millennials) have been standing up and fighting for a voice in the political arena beyond a vote (which many don't believe carries any power). This has cascaded to the college campus in Columbia, in which students stood up and fought for their rights in the face of racial prejudice.
