Source: Christopher A. Jones / Getty
St. Louis, Missouri, has a long and sordid history of racism and an incident at the prestigious Washington University in St. Louis is a sad reminder for anyone who thought the city had progressed past hate.
According to a KDSK report, a white fraternity and a white sorority have been accused of using racist slurs and attacking Black students and Black school employees with eggs. FirstAlert4 confirms that Kappa Sigma and Alpha Phi are the white student organizations suspended from campus following the incident. Missouri State Rep, LaKeySha Bosley, spoke out publicly about her anger:
Via FA4:
“It’s truly disheartening and made me feel like wow we’re still doing this in 2024,” said Bosley. “Because this was done to African American students and staff members, it feels very quiet.”
A student who didn’t want to be identified spoke to KDSK exclusively to explain what happened:
“They start going on tables and dancing and jumping and screaming…The volume is kind of getting louder and we hear stumbling and people coming in from both doors and I’m like ‘Oh hell no’ … they’re like ‘Clear the area. Clear the area.’ They’re screaming, kind of belligerent,” the student said.
“Eggs splattered all over the floor. There was spit on the door that we opened,” the student said.
According to the student, one of the workers reported that a racist slur was used against them. She goes on to say that some of the workers don’t want to put themselves at risk of being fired by speaking out.
“It’s demoralizing to have to serve someone and a population that you know will make your life harder, make your job harder … that’s not in their job description to clean up eggs and spit,” the student said.
Black student organizations at colleges and universities in the surrounding area are standing in solidarity with the Black students and workers at Wash U including Harris Stowe Teachers College and Lindenwood University.
Here is Wash U’s public statement about the alleged hate crime:
“We do not share information about any specific incident or investigation involving our students. We would take any allegations of disruptive or harassing behavior very seriously. We are committed to creating a campus environment where all feel welcome and respected, and where every member of our community is treated fairly with due process anytime an incident is reported. We will work directly with our students to address any concerns they may bring to us”
If you made the mistake of thinking that society would age out of racism and hate crimes, you are sorely mistaken.
