But Black Student Union President Danielle Gittens said she was told there were 14 previously recorded incidents. It shouldn't have taken 14 incidents for us to find out that this was still happening on campus. Christian said the number is up from last year, but not all the incidents are racial in nature. Hate crimes also include references to sexual orientation and gender as well as race. Christian said he attributes the sudden groundswell of activism and outrage to the number of incidents and the personal nature and severity of the slur.
People are always wary about overreacting.
But I think this incident was very personal and directly threatened two students in an extremely derogatory manner. Gittens, who is in contact with the two victims, said they are still shaken up and scared after the ordeal. We need to not just address these issues, we need to work to prevent racial discriminations and hate crimes. The President's Commission on Ethnic Minority Issues is also working to prevent repetitions of similar hate crimes. The posters will provide information on how to report hate crimes and will state that hate crimes are a violation of local, state and federal laws.