At noon on Tuesday the Black Student Union organized a ‘die-in’ event in protest of recent reports of police brutality against African-Americans. Photos by Robert Rigo and Christina Yacono
SLIDESHOW: Police Brutality Protest
April 14, 2015
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Tawana • Apr 15, 2015 at 9:32 pm
To whom it may concern,
I go out of my way to call attention to myself so that when I get attention, I can get mad at the people who are giving me attention. Then I write a big long comment with my name and email so I can get more attention.
In LOLidarity.
Josh Odam • Apr 15, 2015 at 6:52 pm
To Whom It May Concern,
I find this choice of image i.e. my face on the front page of the Collegian, to be highly problematic for a myriad of reasons.
First and foremost, the caption explicitly states the Black Student Union, a campus organization whose Executive Board is comprised of Black women, organized yesterday’s die-in. Furthermore, a majority of students who attended the action were Black women.
To have a direct action spearheaded and organized by sisters, then to have a male body on the front page reinforced the asinine theory that only Black men are subjected to police terror. It also perpetuates and facilitates the theft of Black womens’ intellectual labor, a heteropatriarchal phenomenon which is centuries old.
Alicia Garza, co-founder of BlackLivesMatter, another organization led by Black women, articulates the aforementioned points more eloquently than I could. The link to her manifesto is below, I encourage you to read it:
http://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/
As far as immediate action goes, I want my image removed as the primary thumbnail and replaced with a photograph which accurately represents the leadership of Monday’s action.
My email is included if any questions arise.
In solidarity,
Josh Odam