The Central Connecticut State University in New Berlin, Connecticut was vandalized over the weekend. The unidentified vandal spray-painted “ni**ers” on two of the buildings on campus. In response to the racist graffiti, the Black Student Union and Pride have organized a “blackout” on campus to show that the student body will stand together.
The peaceful protest will take place on Thursday, April 11.
“On Thursday, Pride and the Black Student Union will come together in the face of blatant racism and homophobia,” CCSU Pride wrote in a brief statement on Twitter. “Join us to let our campus know that you WILL NOT stand for the hatred that resides at CCSU.”
The Black Student Union also wrote a letter to the editor of the Central Recorder, a local paper, to share their thoughts on the troubling incident.
“This incident, as expressed by President Toro, is something that will not be tolerated on our campus; however, this will not be the first time that the Black Student Union has addressed this problem. It has now become a difficult reality for CCSU students of color to accept and expect this form of behavior. Hate speech, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, is speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people,” the letter read. “What was not expressed within President Toro’s email was the form of hate speech that was found on our campus.
“The hate speech that was discovered had been black, bolded lettering of the word “N***er.” The hate speech was found to paint a wall of our Student Center, a building dedicated to providing services and support programs to enhance the growth of the campus community that now has become a canvas for those to express their hatred toward African-Americans.”
Campus police are reviewing surveillance footage as part of their investigation.
“We must stand together to demonstrate that this behavior will not be tolerated on our campus, and I commit to leading this charge,” CCSU President Zulma Toro added, via the San Francisco Chronicle.
Photos of the attempted removal of the slurs from the buildings surfaced on social media.
The school initially became aware of the graffiti when photos and videos began surfacing on social media.
An edited version of the graffiti can be seen below.
WARNING: Image contains language that some may find disturbing.
@CCSU Can someone explain this? You guys want to up tuition, but fail to make the school a welcoming environment.. pic.twitter.com/eRobwyiM1r
— Cubone
(@xMarsxz) April 7, 2019
(@xMarsxz) 