Some students see racism in Rhodes ‘prank’
Hung toy smacks of lynching
Two incidents on the campus of Rhodes College over the weekend have spurred an intense discussion about racism among students and faculty on the small private campus.
A sock monkey was discovered hanging out of a dorm on Friday, the college said in a statement, and was removed after campus security was notified. Some students and faculty said they believed it was a racist symbol, although the college said in a statement that it was a dorm-room prank.
Charles McKinney, associate professor of history and chair of the department of Africana Studies, issued a statement Monday condemning “our institutional culture that enables racism, laments any power of faculty, administrators and students that is not overtly and loudly on the side of justice, and call to action all who know what a noose means.”
Saturday morning, students discovered someone had written “Trump 2016” and “Build a wall” in chalk.
The incidents occurred as Rhodes hosted several minority students through the annual Multicultural Visit Program, an overnight event for minority high school seniors to experience life on campus, according to the college’s website.
Rhodes administration called a town hall Saturday night to talk to students.
“At the beginning of the meeting, the student responsible for the sock monkey incident apologized, explaining that his
actions were not racially motivated, but rather part of a series of pranks on his roommate, who owns the stuffed animal,” a college spokesman said in a statement. “The Honor System at Rhodes is designed to create a community where respect and compassion for others is the norm. We will continue to have productive discussions and followup on campus to ensure that Rhodes is a welcoming, inclusive, and compassionate environment for all.”
For several students, the apology wasn’t enough.
Junior Samantha Pittman said her first reaction to seeing the photo of the monkey hanging out the window was of anger, and a stark reminder of the stories she’d heard from her African-American grandparents who grew up in the Deep South.
“There’s anxiety, your palms sweat, your heart starts beating … that’s how I felt,” she said.
Senior Schaeffer Mallory called the image of a monkey with a rope around its neck an “unmistakable representation of lynching — and it’s in Memphis, Tennessee.”
Senior Chloe Moore said incidents of racism on the Rhodes College are nothing new to her, but this one made her “the maddest.”
“This was the first one in four years that made me feel threatened for my safety,” Moore said.
Sophomore Lacey Jamerson said the anger has transcended racial lines of the predominantly white student body.
“A lot of the Rhodes students are really upset about it,” she said.
But, she added, “There’s been a lot of backlash to the backlash.” Students have dismissed the monkey incident as a prank and noted freedom of speech in regards to the chalk writings, Jamerson said.
“But the saying ‘Build the wall’ by itself has very xenophobic, white nationalist undercurrents,” Jamerson said. “I think it’s really hard to argue that isn’t targeted.”
She said she is concerned for the immigrant population on campus, and that the language insinuates “that a whole group of students don’t deserve to be here.”
Last month, a former University of Mississippi student pleaded guilty to placing a noose on a statue of James Meredith, the school’s first black student. He faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. The government has recommended probation.