On a makeshift wall of cinder blocks painted with phrases such as “plastic whore” and “dumb blonde,” Ana Laura Martinez saw a familiar word: “Cuban.”
A UF Spanish senior, she was one of about five who protested the Writing on the Wall Project Wednesday afternoon on the Plaza of the Americas.
“They are going to tear down a wall with my ethnicity on it?” she said.
The Writing on the Wall Project has been conducted at UF for eight years, and Cary Warsetsky, executive director of the project, said he has never heard of students having a problem with a single brick until this year.
Warsetsky, a UF chemical engineering junior, said the project involves students painting words they find offensive on blocks, which are then made into a 40-foot-by-9-foot wall. After a week, the wall is torn down to represent the breaking down of barriers between people.
When Lidice Ferrera, a UF English and French junior, received a text message telling her the word “Cuban” was on the wall, she went to see it for herself.
“Seeing that on the wall was like seeing my name on the wall,” Ferrera said.
She created an event on Facebook so others who were offended by the brick could protest at the wall. About 65 students said they would attend.
But Caroline Miazgowicz, a UF advertising senior, said people shouldn’t have problems with any of the bricks.
“It says ‘vegan’ up there, and I’m a vegan who doesn’t understand how that would be negative,” Miazgowicz said.
Despite the protest, Warsetsky believes this is a sign the project is doing its job.
“The purpose of this wall is to start a dialogue, and that’s what’s going on here,” he said.
