In light of the racial profiling incident involving three young boys from Poughkeepsie last semester, we as students are being fed bullshit about reparative efforts being made on behalf of the administration to lessen the presence of the racial bias of security at Vassar. I’m here to tell you anecdotally that these “reparative efforts,” if they are being made, are not working. In fact, Vassar’s Security is performing as usual; that is to say that their blatant disregard and ignorance concerning students of Color and the issues we face on this campus is as present as ever.
A few weeks ago our campus was lucky enough to have renowned artist and activist Dread Scott come and give a lecture on his work. His artwork concerns the struggles People of Color face in the United States and deals with myriad topics such as racism, capitalism, police brutality, and, of course, racial profiling to name a few. One of the works Scott discussed was a collection of police sketches entitled “Wanted.” The piece demonstrates the ridiculous nature of the policing of Black and Brown bodies throughout the United States. “Wanted” shows how over-policed, criminalized, and under-protected Black and Brown youth are in our society through a mockery of the actual causes for the street harassment these youths face. Among the causes listed are “furtive movement,” “looking out,” “matches description,” and “lifestyle choice.”
I was overwhelmed with emotion when Scott presented this portion of his work. My mind continually moved back and forth between that moment I was in and the moments in my life prior to that where myself, friends, family, and other Black and Brown bodies in society were being harassed and criminalized for these same unjust and ludicrous reasons. You can say that “Wanted” resonated deeply with me. I left the lecture feeling motivated as ever to address these issues, particularly in a historically high-policed environment codified in racism and racial profiling such as Vassar. Scott had notified us that the posters for “Wanted” were available to download on his website, and I felt encouraged to go back to my dorm room in Noyes and print them out. That’s what I did.
I guess at this point you’re probably wondering what relevance Dread Scott’s “Wanted” has to my experience of the racist Security system Vassar has in place. When I put the five posters available on Scott’s website on my door, I did not anticipate receiving any backlash from students, let alone administration. Unfortunately, Vassar has a tendency to surprise me with the absurdity of its actions.
This past Saturday at 5:55 AM I was awoken by harsh knocks on my door. I lay in bed and waited a few seconds to see who was being that triflin’ that early in the morning. Upon hearing “Vassar College Security, open the door,” I got out of bed and opened the door, thinking something had happened to a friend or there was an issue concerning someone I cared for that warranted my immediate attention. To my surprise I was greeted with the question: “Were you aware that these [points to “Wanted” posters on my door] posters were on your door”?
I thought to myself: “Umm, yeah? They’re on my door, placed symmetrically and neatly, and I’m damn proud,” but muttered a confused “yes…” At this point I received information about a student who’d filed a report on me around 5:30 AM, due to the “racialized”, “offensive” nature of my posters. I was asked to remove the posters from my door and was notified that I’d be written up and a report would be filed, which makes me think the issue was reported as a bias incident.
A quick aside: According to Vassar College, a bias incident is “characterized as a behavior or act—verbal, written or physical—which is personally directed against or targets an individual or group based on perceived or actual characteristics such as race, color, religious belief, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, or age.”
I immediately, firmly, and unwaveringly responded that I would not be removing the posters from my door, as they are crucial to my politics on this campus as well as my being a Person of Color in a white-supremacist society ridden with police officers that wholeheartedly believe they have to right to stop anyone for anything. I respectfully explained the significance of the posters to the security guards who then asked me for my student I.D. — for what reason, I have no idea — and told me I had been respectful and to enjoy my night. I find it comical and uncoincidental that security only began to seem amicable and compromising when I began to mention my concerns of racial bias in both the complaint and the way the complaint was handled. All of a sudden, the demeanor of the guards shifted; we were not longer discussing explicitly the nature of the complaint or my feelings about them. Instead, they lightly commented on the temperature in my room and asked if I had had a window open.
I am still troubled as to why security came to my door at 5:55 AM in response to a complaint about posters… Was I perceived as an immediate threat such that I needed to be woken up and instantaneously reprimanded? Do my rights as a student not matter when a white student feels, in any way, uncomfortable? It is not my job to make sure that white students are comfortable with how I represent my political ideologies. If they are comfortable, I take that as a sign that I am failing, because to be comfortable and white when speaking on racialized issues is to be complicit in structures that privilege them [white people] and disadvantage People of Color.
I am tired of Vassar’s bullshit rhetoric on comfort. I am not comfortable at this school. I do not feel safe at this school. Somehow, still, students can make blatantly racist comments in class and go unchecked by professors — and nothing is done about it. What about my discomfort? What about the discomfort almost every Student of Color grapples with when they walk by security late at night? What about the discomfort I felt when being awoken early Saturday morning?
Not only is this an instance of harassment on behalf of security, but it also shows the contradictory nature of Vassar’s claimed political platform and the reality of the actions they take. Vassar claims that it “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious belief, sex, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other programs.”
I momentarily thought to myself a) why is Vassar security at my door at 5:55 AM for some posters as if I am an imminent threat to the community, b) how can these posters be construed by anyone as being offensive when they are not targeted at anyone and simply express my sentiments regarding the profiling and criminalization of Youth of Color in the U,S,, and c) if this were a white student posting a poster as part of their activism that dealt with a less contentious issue than race, would they be woken up in the midst of their beauty sleep early on a Saturday morning as if they posed an imminent threat to students on campus? In doing so I began to realize that Security was back at it again. This time, instead of over-policing three Black boys in our public library, they were over-policing my harmless activism for a reason still unknown to me.
Vassar is continually recognized as a progressive and liberal institution that prides itself on the diversity and radicalism of its students. In my experience, however, Vassar consistently, when speaking of Students of Color, recruits some of the most brilliant of us only to later silence our voices when they are perceived as “threatening” to white students in any way. Such was the case with last year’s SJP conflict, the college’s lack of a response to the racial profiling incident last semester, the sawing of a mural that had controversial political statements made by radical Students of Color i.e. “#abolishharmlesswhitegirls2k14” — anything counterhegemonic and potentially threatening to the politics of the college’s wealthy donors and students is immediately condemned and addressed. All the while, we have still yet to receive the Margolis-Healy report concerning the steps being taken to address racial profiling.
Posting the “Wanted” posters on my door was intentional and I have absolutely no regrets in doing so. I do not intend on taking the posters down. I feel that my rights as a Student of Color on this campus are trampled and neglected while simultaneously being underprivileged in comparison to those of my white counterparts. I took a stroll through Noyes dormitory and discovered various forms of activism and awareness plastered throughout the halls, ranging from LGBTQ awareness stickers to the words “fuck the patriarchy” on a whiteboard. Why are these forms of activism not being addressed in the way that mine was? I was forced to come to the realization yet again that race just isn’t that important to people on this campus, for the most part, unless it is an aspect of your existence that you must deal with every day when you stroll through this slave-built institution.
Is this the type of environment that we are happy being in - where Students of Color must live in constant fear of being reprimanded for their political activism even when said activism targets no one in particular and focuses on the larger issues that burden their everyday existence? I’m absolutely tired of it. I have been discussing with a group of friends who’ve also fallen victim to Vassar’s racist security policies and actions, and we are mobilizing on this issue.
I openly extend the offer to any student at the college who feels like this instance of politics-policing is unjust, racist, or unnecessary: Post the posters on your doors, throughout the campus, in your room, anywhere. Please don’t let these issues go unaddressed by the student body. Post the wanted posters to show that the issue of the criminalization of youth is not something that can go unaddressed. It is important, and it is part of my [our] everyday life [lives].
If you have trouble finding the posters, please email me at [email protected] and I will send you copies for downloading purposes. Also contact me if you have fallen victim to racist policies and actions in Vassar, share your experiences: be part of the effort to mobilize!
Recommended/further reading:
http://www.wanted-project.com/about/
http://info.vassar.edu/about/vassar/ - see “non-discriminatory policy”
THOSE WHO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THIS ARTICLE, THE STUDENT THAT WAS HARASSED BY VC SECURITY, AND THE IMMEDIATE RECOGNITION OF VASSAR’S RACIST ACTIONS:
Royal Scales, Vassar ’17
Rhyston Mays, Vassar ’16
Asia Alman, Vassar ’17
Cheyenne Tobias, Vassar ’18
Cecilia Graña-Rosa, Vassar ’15
Gabby Miller, Vassar ’17
Maya Sudarkasa, Vassar ’18
Caitlin Munchick, Vassar ’17
Lindsay Lucido, Vassar ’16
Victoria Elias, Vassar ’16
Cam Gerrity, Vassar ’17
Jake Pardee, Vassar ’17
Rachel Simmons, Vassar ’17
Kayla Actitty, Dartmouth ’17
Akeel St. Vil, Vassar ’14
Tyler Wilch, Vassar ’17
Ricardo Rios, Skidmore ’18
Devon Tart, Vassar ’17
Jonathan Moore, Tufts ’17
Sophia Steinart-Evoy, Vassar ’17
Nana T. Baffour-Awuah, Vassar ’14
Rachel Spayd, Vassar ’17
Adamarie Rodriguez, MCC ’17
Kayla Fisher, Vassar ’17
Laura Song, Vassar ’16
Raymond Magsaysay, Vassar ’17
Gabrielle Pollack, Vassar ’17
Andre Cousineau, Vassar ’15
Tori Hong, UMN ’14
Ellie Amicucci, Vassar ’18
Nicholas Zarchen, Vassar ’17
Maya Horowitz, Vassar ’16
Anna Doyle, Vassar ’14
Jade Diaz, Vassar ’18
Priya Nair, Vassar ’15
Imani Hudson-Hill, Vassar ’14
Jason Goldman, Vassar ’18
Rachel Tankersley, Vassar ’17
Cynthia Sandoval, Franklin University of Switzerland ’17
Abbi Hiller, Vassar ’17
Kayla Holliday, Vassar ’18
Mallory Tyler, Vassar ’16
Will Garner, Vassar ’18
Mariam Goharian, NYU ’16
Joaquim Goncalves, Vassar ’18
Naomi Johnson, Vassar ’16
Becky Wilson, Vassar ’17
Shanique Bailey, Vassar ’18
Genesis Hernandez, former Vassar student - would-be graduation: ’16
David Finger, Vassar ’15
Kiran Chapman, Vassar ‘15
Alix Masters, Vassar ‘15
Lilian Kalish, Vassar ‘16
Alexander Koo, Vassar ‘18
David McConnell, Vassar ‘16
Erik Halberg, Vassar ‘16
Nnennia Mazagwu, Vassar ‘17
Noah Mintz, Vassar ‘16
Grace Sparapani, Vassar ‘16
Gordon Schmidt, Vassar ‘17
Marcos Vargas, Vassar ‘15
Roger Vera, Vassar ‘18
Hildegard Wulf, Vassar ‘17
and remember…
As a graduate of the class of ’03, and a white male, I stand in solidarity with you. Thank you for keeping this all-important issue going. It was a problem before I was a student, it was a problem while I was a student, and it obviously continues. Don’t give up. Ever. We stand beside you.
Was it Mustachio? I wonder if he’s a clan member.
In terms of the MH report, what has been returned to the College has been published. I don’t think attacking admins on not releasing the report is a good use of energy since they have consistently said exactly when they would be releasing the report and they have done that.
However, what the report says about their shit-tastic management of Security and their ongoing knowledge of racial profiling is absolutely worth very loudly and publicly condemning.
It seems unlikely that a bulk of people will read the report but I read it and collected some highlights. TL;DR: Racial Profiling is a huge issue. Vassar students, at least in part, are to blame for racial profiling. The Department seems to be a ‘good ole boys’ club. The previous director should have been fired YEARS ago.
More at: https://vcpost.me/2014/11/28/margolis-healy-preliminary-report-skimmings/
This is so upsetting! There is no justifiable reason you should be awakened at that hour to discuss your political views. And it’s terrible that you don’t feel safe at Vassar.
Please try to work with the administration to fix the issue, instead of cursing them publicly and threatening “mobilization.” They want all students to be happy and healthy at Vassar — the institution’s reputation requires this — so try working with the system. You’ll never be in a more luxurious (well-fed, well-housed, lots of time) situation to do so. You can make real change by engaging those in power, not by alienating them.
Case in point: The blood-spattered graphic at the bottom of this very serious article. Yes, that happens other places, but by implying you are facing the same level of threat at Vassar, you undermine the validity of your other points.
@ VASSAR KID:
The date for the publishing of the report was constantly changed. This was written before it was published. Additionally, the report neglected the real presence of racial profiling. Racial profiling was addressed as believed, and perceived, never tangibly named and condemned. The recommendations were things that we have been suggesting for years now. From what I read, the report did absolutely nothing except say that Vassar cares about its students and that the “perceived” racial profiling should be somewhat addressed.
Though I recognize that issues of racial profiling and discrimination occur systematically, and while I am deeply sorry that you have been made to feel uncomfortable, to say that this is one of those instances would be remiss. Security was doing it’s job, coming to your room to follow up on a complaint presumably made by a fellow student (this is perhaps where the real issue lies). Despite the ungodly hour at which they woke you, it seems like they didn’t infringe on any of your rights and allowed you to keep the posters up without much trouble (it would have been ridiculous if they didn’t allow you to keep them up).
In terms of the report, it was contracted out to a private company. The results were the results. This company reviews hundreds, if not thousands, of institutions and does so impartially. I am not saying that racial profiling does not exist, nor am I saying that VC security can’t do better in certain areas, but to say that this type of stuff occurs systematically on our campus is misguided.
ALANA Center’s number one guideline: Assume positive intent.
Damn, wish people would follow that more often.
Class of ’11 in solidarity.
I feel you, but I don’t appreciate your lumping Jews in as white people, especially on a campus where some Jews have been targeted and intimidated into silence by SJP. Belittling antisemitism shouldn’t be part of your struggle.
Are we just going to ignore the fact that you not only assume that what was filed was a bias incident, that the person who filed it was white, and that the person who filed it knew you were a person of color behind your closed door at 5:30 AM when the incident was submitted? In fact, if they didn’t know the origin of the drawings, they could easily have thought that the posters were “racialized” and “offensive” AGAINST people of color. The only thing I see as having any tangible, factual grounds for being upset in this is that they woke you up so early. That’s bullshit.
THANK YOU
You were completely right. Look at the third to last comment from the person who called in the complaint…
@ ANONYMOUS and VC ’15
1. Security notified me the student was white.
2. There are also signs on my door about my space being a PoC safe zone, and assuming that the individual who’d decided to complain read or at least viewed, in depth, the Wanted posters, would be able to likely determine that a PoC lived inside that room.
3. I assumed it was a bias incident because I was told that I was going to be WRITTEN UP and that a report would be filed. I didn’t just decide that security had it out for me that day.
4. If it is security’s job to wake students up at 5:55 AM on a Saturday morning by banging on their door repeatedly for a few minutes because a white student was upset about some posters, then our security policies should be immediately reevaluated. Judgement should be used in determining whether or not something posed a legitimate threat or danger to the community before drastic actions are taken.
5. You fail to understand that these types of things do not happen to white students for their activism. Pay attention to the examples I listed. The person who complained new I was a PoC and security reacted as they did presumably because a white student complained that something was racialized in such a way that they unjustifiably felt targeted.
alumni who have read your article and Kiese Laymon’s article about racial profiling at vassar are wondering how we can best support current organizing on campus. Is there an open letter or petition we can sign on to? A list of demands? Calls to specific administrators. We are listening and will take action with you.
Also, in response to previous commenter: as a Jewish alumni I closely followed the SJP protests on campus. Almost all Jews at vassar are white and many of the students protesting were students of color who were described as “threatening” or “intimidating” in ways that were clearly racist. Protesting oppressive actions by the state of Israel is not the same thing as being antisemitic.
Anthony,
Please stop with the angry rhetoric. I understand that you’re upset over getting woken up early in the morning about this issue but, while the charge may be the result of a little overreacting, obviously somebody was offended by the posters. Maybe instead of getting angry at security, who were doing their jobs by responding to a complaint, try to understand why somebody would have made the complaint in the first place.
There is no conspiracy against you personally at this school, so stop acting like there is. Security was doing the job they were hired to do. Regardless of whether or not the complaint that was made was justified, you can’t seriously expect security to throw down their badges and quit because they were told to tell you to take down your posters.
Also, you say that security started acting pleasantly only once you mentioned class and race issues, but I see absolutely no evidence of that. It sounds like they merely came to your door, albeit early in the morning, informed you of the complaint, asked you to take the posters down, took your ID number, made small talk, and left. I see absolutely no evidence of any switch in attitude due to you complaining about their racist tendencies.
More generally, I’ve read your blog. You say that people think you have angry black man politics. Maybe that’s because you do have angry politics, devoid of race. I find it extremely difficult to read what you write and take it seriously because I feel like you’re constantly shouting at me. If you want people to listen, tone down the rhetoric and actually talk to people instead of at them. What you’re doing now and have been doing for a while is a complete turn off. Try to understand that people may think differently than you and, quite frankly, if you think that this campus is too much like a 1984-esque police state, good luck anywhere else.
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
This is EXACTLY how I feel. Thank you for saying this so eloquently.
lol
Good response
“Also, in response to previous commenter: as a Jewish alumni I closely followed the SJP protests on campus. Almost all Jews at vassar are white and many of the students protesting were students of color who were described as “threatening” or “intimidating” in ways that were clearly racist. ”
My first comment in response to this appears to have not gone through or has been censored.
I closely follow SJP protests on campus as well. I’d like to know who accused the students who shouted down JStreeters last year (not to mention the student who tweeted out Nazi imagery) of being threatening and intimidating because they were students of color.
Let’s be honest. Because of existing racial tension on campus, Jews are being essentialized as “white people” in order to cast those who support Israel as “white” and those who oppose it as “people of color.” SJP is not all people of color, and supporters of Israel are not all white (and not all Israelis are white, and not all Palestinians are people of color), despite attempts by the BDS movement to portray it that way in order to form alliances with ethnic and racial minority groups on campus. It’s cynical, ignorant, and wrong. SJP becomes a group of people of color when it’s advantageous to claim their opponents are racist, and it becomes a group of Jews when it’s necessary to deflect a claim that they’re antisemitic. I have no problem acknowledging the validity of pro-Palestinian movements; I too am pro-Palestinian. I can even respect SJP’s right to decide that they will not work with any Jewish group unless the group supports BDS, even though it’s wrong and exclusionary. But I am tired of hearing the safety of Jews on campus is not an issue because Jews are “white” and “privileged.” Jews are a minority, and internationally, a minority that faces daily verbal and sometimes physical abuse. They are two-and-a-half generations removed from the Holocaust and one-and-a-half removed from widespread American societal antisemitism. They didn’t become not-a-minority because of the color of their skin and the size of their parents’ pocketbooks.
I just want to share my side of the story really quickly. I am a resident of Noyes house and I self identify as a Black Right’s Activist. As I was headed to the vending machine early in the morning, I saw the signs on your door. Now here is the embarrassing part: I completely misunderstood the signs. I did not see it as satire upon first glance, and got offended because I just thought a student was hanging wanted posters of POCs on his door. Being riled up by the posters and the current state of America, I immediately reported it to the guard on duty at the front door. It was a mistake on my part to not further read the posters and understand that they are actually beautifully done satirical pieces, and I truly am sorry for making you feel victimized on campus. However, it is important that you know that when I reported the signs, I did not know your race or how you identified and that was not a factor in why I talked to the guard. She responded quickly because she was only a few feet from your door at the time. Once again, I am sincerely sorry for any stress this caused and need you to know this all came from a mistake rather than a place of prejudice.
I am glad someone didn’t understand them versus understanding them and not accepting them. So thank you for that. That being said, I don’t think that a) dismisses the fact that you reported the incident at 5:30 in the morning without truly looking at the posters themselves. as a ‘black rights activist’ - if you’re not Black identifying, i strongly suggest changing that term as it seemingly commodifies Black activism as something that can be invoked freely - you should have looked carefully at what they were before reporting it to security given the fact that this is a very important - and prevalent, not sure how the posters can be misconstrued - form of Black activism. nor does it b) dismiss the way in which security approached the issue; at the margolis healy forum we did discuss how much of this is not security’s fault. this, however, seems to be a case where it is completely unacceptable for students to be woken up on a saturday morning at 5:55 am without using their judgment in determining if the posters were threatening/offensive/what have you. i would also like to point out the fact that neither of you carefully examined the posters before acting on them — something that insodoing you effectively did the opposite of what you intended, and security over-policed a Black body who’d done literally nothing wrong/offensive.
but isn’t it the fact that security guards ARE using their personal judgement in some cases that is getting Vassar kids so riled up? If anything, security should have a stricter code of action that should be followed by each guard with no exceptions, otherwise more bias incidents could easily occur based off of their personal judgment. So really all this boils down to now is that a college kid is pissed that someone woke them up early on a weekend morning, when the guard was just doing what they were contractually obligated to do.
The person who reported you obviously did not know you were a person of color so your argument about racial profiling in this case is incorrect. Although unfortunately racial profiling does happen on Vassar campus, I am upset that your story is being used to address the issue because you make many assumptions that are simply incorrect. After having read the person who called in the complaint’s apology and response I am appalled to see so many people get riled up by your assumptions and complaints. I hope many people get to read the other side of the story.
After reading your blog and this article, I have a tip for you-if you really want to make a difference in getting rid of racism and profiling, then I suggest instead of merely using an emotional standpoint, use a rational one. That is clearly lacking in your efforts and I know many find it difficult and nearly impossible to sympathize with your efforts. You come across as angry and bitter. Look at the great Martin Luther King Jr. He was rational in his approach to fighting racism and look at the difference he made. I suggest using different tactics to address your views. Not only do I suggest it, I really hope you do because I, like many, am starting to get tired of getting talked at and am in some ways offended by the ways you address these issues.
The world doesn’t have a conspiracy against you Anthony, please realize that.
THIS.