Race
Behind the unsuspecting Black and Brown faces on pamphlets and behind the promises for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), UChicago is actually too racist to function. No actually, racism is quite literally the reason it functions, the mode of its existence from the very start. As with many elite institutions the college thrives on exclusion of students of color, specifically those who are Black or Indigenous. The university is a racist-capitalist, imperialist, and colonial institution that is guided by white-supremacist values and the need to accumulate capital -- no matter the cost. Due to this foundation, the University has turned a blind eye to the multiple racist incidents that have occurred on campus.
In autumn 2022, after celebrating the 4th Annual Black Convocation, the University of Chicago tweeted a picture to recap the event. Under the picture white, conservative students hopped on the comment section to spew anti-Black hate directed at the Black UChicago community. The white students claimed that Black Convocation is a racist, segregationist event, and other commenters claimed that Black students are only at universities to inflict white guilt and receive handouts. The university did nothing to protect Black students against the online racist cyber attacks, where many Black students had to engage in racist, triggering rhetoric in order to defend their existence on this campus. And this is not surprising, in fact, this is soooooo UChicago.
This was further seen in the fall of 2021. In the aftermath of the gun death of a graduated student and a rally calling for an increase of UCPD presence on campus, the Organization of Black Students (OBS) received anonymous racist emails filled with racial slurs, hate, and statements claiming that Black people are the “biggest criminals in the world” who are “lowering standards in education” and “need to be put in jail”. There were also numerous posts made on Reddit and UChicago Secrets, an anonymous Facebook forum, where UChicago students spread anti-Black rhetoric and symbols that directly promoted white supremacy and gentrification. In response to these series of racist attacks OBS released a statement detailing how the racism targeted towards Black students and our Black South Side neighbors are nothing new, but are always painful and detrimental to the safety of Black people on and off UChicago’s campus. Through all this, the University did nothing to support or protect Black students.
These are not isolated instances; they are a pattern of the University dismissing the safety of students of color, particularly Black students, while protecting students who perpetuate white supremacy under the guise of “free speech”. Narratives that depict Black folks as dangerous, criminal, and disposable are pervasive at UChicago, and the University itself leans into them as part of its policing project. But, when white supremacist actors put Black people at risk, UChicago does nothing. Last year during student protests for Palestine (see the UChicago United for Palestine section), police specifically profiled and targeted Black, Arab, and visibly Muslim students while actively protecting the white counter-protestors who were doxxing, threatening violence against, and even pushing and physically aggressing them.
Despite the University’s proclamations of “progress” made “in recent years to address problems of racial bias and inequities on…campus,” time and time again, BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) students and community members are exposed to the fact that the University has always and will continue to subscribe to and uphold racist systems, beliefs, and actions. And in response to racist incidents, it is not the University that seeks to make reparations; rather the work is done by student organizers and community members who address and provide restorative answers in response to the harm that the University perpetrates. The legacy of student organizing looks beyond the empty and fruitless Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives and is aimed toward abolishing the University as we know it.
