(NAME-MCE) Inspiring bigotry on the college campus

[Bill Howe]

Published on Monday, October 13, 2008 - Fayette Observer

Inspiring bigotry on the college campus

Karen Spears Zacharias

Several years ago while on a trip to Atlanta, I took the time to visit the
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. I admit I went partly out of
a sense of civic obligation. I'd grown up in Georgia during the civil rights
movement. It seemed like something I ought to do.

I took along my Western-born-and-bred children. I've always been that kind
of mother. The kind who read to my children every night. The kind that
didn't allow cable television in the house. The kind who encouraged them to
memorize Bible verses. The kind who persuaded my children to watch
documentaries on MLK even though they lived in a community that was 93
percent white. The kind of mother who thought they ought to know what it
meant to be part of the 7 percent minority.

Thankfully, I have remarkable kids. They are very tolerant of me and my
do-good ways. They've indulged my attempts to educate them with humor, and,
generally, refrained from talking bad about me to my face. But on that day,
the day I took them to King's museum, their tears told me all I needed to
know about my children and their character.

I did not know in advance about the exhibit on display — "Without Sanctuary:
Lynching Photography in America." I remember debating for a minute or two
about whether I ought to let the kids see it. I finally decided that because
it was a history they were so far removed from that they might learn
something from it. But I warned them that the photos were graphic and that
they didn't have to look at the exhibit if they didn't want to.

They chose to look.

The exhibit hall was packed but completely, utterly, disturbingly silent. On
the stark black walls were photos of men, young and old, all African
Americans, dangling limply from tree branches.

But that's not what startled me, or my children.

It was the faces of the white people who made up the crowd. There were men
and women and children. Most were dressed up in their Sunday best, as if
they were gathering for a church homecoming. Some smoked casually. Others
grinned boastfully. Some looked bored by the entire affair.

I thought of that exhibit recently when I read about the four students who
hung an effigy of Sen. Barack Obama from a tree on the campus of Oregon's
George Fox University campus.

Among Oregonians, George Fox is considered one of the state's best private
institutions. The Honorable ex-Sen. Mark Hatfield, who made a name for
himself by speaking out against the Vietnam War the way Martin Luther King
Jr. did, serves on the board of trustees. In fact, the library is named
after him.

Peace-loving Quakers founded George Fox in 1891. The campus now boasts a
student body of 3,355. War- and hate-mongering is not part of the Quaker
creed.

I suspect it is that creed of reconciliation that kept these four students
from being booted out of George Fox. The administration decided, instead,
that the four ought to do community service and undergo multicultural
education.

"Regardless of their intentions, the image of a black man hanging from a
tree is one of the most hurtful racist symbols of our history," said Brad
Lau, vice president of student life.

I agree with Lau on that last point — what these students did was beyond
abhorrent.

What I don't understand, however, is why Lau said it makes no difference
what the students' intentions were.

Of course it matters.

It makes all the difference in the world when you're the black man, hanging.

*Karen Spears Zacharias is an Observer editorial writer. She can be reached
at 486-3557 or zachariask at fayobserver.com.*