A white supremacist coming to campus later this week has sparked calls for unity, but these only seem to falsely cover up divisions within our own campus communities.
In response to the confirmation of Thursday’s event, many are taking this chance to emphasize how the UF campus is united. Unfortunately, it is still divided. To pretend otherwise is not only inaccurate but dangerous.
My question for those who want to focus on positivity and unity in the face of this event is simple. Where are you during the daily microaggressions and straight-up aggressions that marginalized communities face? There’s so much we can do as a campus to be more inclusive on a daily basis to combat white supremacy, but it’s essential we lose our fear of political engagement.
With Richard Spencer coming to campus later this week, now is the time to speak out against racism and become more inclusive, not to ignore our problems by touting how diverse we are. Giving out lollipops to symbolize diversity isn’t enough. Bragging about diversity is just tokenism. Why not instead talk about actions that are being made to make UF more inclusive and help minority students succeed?
Just as President Donald Trump’s both-side-ism after Charlottesville was disgusting, it’s also not good to pretend like every Gator is inclusive and that we have no problems internally.
Racism is even revealed within the classroom. Just over a week ago, I was in one of my political science classes where someone alleged black people aren’t Republicans because they see military spending as taking away from welfare they feel they are owed. Another student brought up the idea of people being tired of the “race card.”
Beyond these events in class, there have been instances of overt and aggressive racism on campus. Just within the past year, there was a man on campus wearing a swastika armband and dancers for Gator Adaa were harassed during practice.
While it’s great to say we’re all in this together, we have to acknowledge there are ways white supremacy is upheld right here on campus. It’s in our Student Government “system”, or those passive-aggressive remarks by freshmen who feel their spot at Harvard was taken by a person of color. It’s also the uproar white students created when the Black Cultural Living Learning Community was created, despite the UF Housing and Residence Education department being clear that students of any race could live there.
We conveniently forget these examples of racism when we want to seem “together.” I would love to say that the UF community is united against racism, but that just isn’t the case. While it’s true that many at UF have called out Spencer’s ideology, UF also has its own white supremacy to deal with from within. To assume that every Gator loves diversity and inclusivity is naive.
Spencer will come and go, but that doesn’t mean we can just move past this issue. No matter how together you think the university is, there are Gators who voted for Trump and Gators who will probably show up to support Spencer. The students who do this will be here long after Spencer leaves. How will we deal with them? How will we deal with students who harbor white supremacist attitudes but would not align themselves with Spencer? The possibility of violence at this event makes it scary, but Spencer’s arrival is just a symptom of a problem. Being inclusive is more important than seeming like one united group.
The truth is UF is not united on the issues of racism and white supremacy. Let’s not pretend we are.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science and journalism senior. Her column appears on Mondays.
