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Institutional Racism in Syracuse?
EspreeNet News Service
SYRACUSE, NY -- Over the last couple of months Syracuse University students got a little more
than what there tuition paid for.
I was a visitor on campus when Essence Magazine's Susan Taylor spoke
to students about change and struggle. She addressed it from a corporate
perspective because that's what the students should be learning, right?
Wrong.
Black students were handing out copies of a cartoon printed in the
campus paper The Daily Orange. The cartoon was of a stick figured person
in a dorm room, then that same picture with a black faced character looking
in the window, and finally just the stick figure without any furniture.
So you have to ask the question, what are they learning?
Last week a white student put on black face, claiming to be dressing up as
Tiger Woods, and it made national news. The official university response was,
its under investigation.
Which leads me to the recent commencement ceremony at the university, with guest speaker
former NYC Mayor the controversial Rudolf Gulliani. A man who claim to be investigating
a case (Amadou Diallo) where police officers shot an unarmed black man over 40 times.
Did I mention that his hands were in the air.
Again I ask you, what are they learning?
In a report prepared for the United Nations by the US State Department
(US compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination),
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Harold Koh, said
"The residual effects of slavery and institutionalized racism can still be seen".
I think it's an understatement when you look at what's going on right here.
comments about this story: Comments@SoulOfSyracuse.com
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