Four students at Colorado State University (CSU) recently went viral for an Instagram story that included the words “Wakanda forevaa,” in a reference to the fictional country in Marvel’s popular Black Panther movie and comic book series. What was so upsetting about it that the university had to get involved? The four white students (three men and one woman) decided to wear blackface in the Instagram post. One of the four has issued a statement where she claims to be guilty of “stupidity” but not racism (more on that below).
While CSU has given a statement, the students ultimately won’t face any punishment from the institution. As a result, some of their fellow classmates are planning to protest this enormous inaction.
Students are planning to present a “Protecting Students From Future Hate Speech” plan to their student government as part of their protest on Wednesday. Basically, they’re hoping that even though the higher-ups at their institution won’t issue any actual punishment, their student leadership can hold their peers accountable.
By the way, the school’s rationale for not taking any action? The First Amendment. While CSU said the Instagram post goes against community values, it doesn’t violate any rules. Yikes.
The statement, which came from university's president Joyce McConnell and two other administrators, notes that “personal social media accounts are not under our jurisdiction,” and that students (along with faculty and staff) “can generally post whatever they wish to post on their personal online accounts in accordance with their First Amendment rights.”
Hmm. The use of “generally” there leaves a lot to be desired. It also opens up the question: Can white staff, students, and faculty generally post whatever they wish? Do the same lenient standards apply for people of color?
Unsurprisingly, the statement received a lot of backlash. CSU responded to that backlash by promising to fund anti-racism initiatives at the school. They also plan to host discussions and symposiums on how to prevent this sort of incident from happening again.
"CSU values diversity until we get here," said Haneen Badri, a senior at CSU who has served on the student government. "After we get here, they don't do anything to show us that we're valued."
What do the white students have to say for themselves? One has spoken out via a statement her father sent to the New York Daily News. The white woman, identified as Leana Kaplan, apologized. She said she’s guilty of being stupid. Hey—that’s her own wording!
“I am guilty of insensitivity and stupidity, but these do not make me a racist nor even a denier of my racism, as so many are,” Kaplan said in her statement on Friday.“At what point does someone say: ‘Stop, we are coming across as racists?’ Unfortunately, in the moment, that point didn’t happen.”
She also noted to the New York Daily News that she thinks she might have lost her job over the post.
As of yet, the others in the photo haven’t made statements or apologized.
As reported by News9, protesting students have written chalk messages around the campus, only to have them immediately removed by maintenance crews. The messages included “white supremacy is terrorism” and called for more action from the university. According to the school, the messages were removed as part of routine maintenance but should be left alone in the future.
Here’s an interview with one student who really gets into detail on why this is such a disappointment and problem for students of color, especially at the start of the school year:
Here’s an interview with shorter statements from several students on campus: