York Students Rally A Week After Racist Graffiti Was Discovered On Campus
Posted January 29, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s been exactly a week since racist graffiti was discovered scrawled on the door of the Black Student’s Alliance Centre at York University. The abhorrent “N” word, and “Go Back To Africa” have long been erased, but passions are still running high on campus.
On Tuesday, hundreds of students rallied at Vari Hall, expressing a mix of solidarity and anger.
Zannalyn Robest (pictured below) was one of the most outspoken members of the Black Student’s Alliance (B.S.A.) to address the crowd.
“This was a clear expression of hate,” she said. “We call it a hate crime, we call it hate literature, and we call it hate speech, and I want you to recognize it for that.”
Robest also addressed accusations that the school administration was slow to act after news of the graffiti surfaced. She maintains that the B.S.A. is striving to “foster a relationship of change,” with the school.
“We want the administration to know that we are serious,” she said. “Where are our black teachers?
“Why aren’t more black students being taken in as grad students? Where are the black T.A.’s? These are the things we have been asking.”
“They’ve acknowledged a breakdown of communications and we (are working to repair that).”
The B.S.A. also wants black students be active participants in the devising and implementing of policies related to racism and student community life on the administrative level.
After she left the podium, Robest spoke to CityNews.ca.
“I feel like the hate literature is a symptom of hatred towards blacks at our school and in Toronto,” she boldly states.
“We’d like to see more black school teachers.”
“I think that a lot of students, blacks and otherwise, we are sleeping, we are in a comatose state, thinking that racism doesn’t exist. Racism didn’t begin on Tuesday when the (graffiti appeared). It’s been around and you’ve been seeing it in different forms.”
Click here to read the school President’s statement on the racist graffiti.
Photos by Michael Talbot, CityNews.ca
