Just as we hoped blackface would be left behind in 2018, a video of a white University of Oklahoma sorority student surfaced on Twitter. The video in question shows the student applying black paint to her face, saying “I’m a n*****,” as the girl behind the camera tells her to stop, not because she thought it racist but because “that’s paint- not [face paint].”
The video was first shared on Twitter a week before Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Since then, it has gone on to garner thousands of likes, comments and retweets.
Don’t suspend or expel them, just have them attend the next black student association event and explain themselves in front of that entire body since they’re so bold.
— JB (@pistolsmisfirin) January 18, 2019
However, unlike many other cases like this, the student did not get away with it. On the 19th of January, OU Tri Delta Collegiate Chapter President London Moore posted a statement on Instagram, “condemning the racist, offensive and disgraceful conduct of the two women involved,” and ultimately, booting them from the chapter. After the University of Oklahoma’s Black Student Union said that they “weren’t surprised” about the incident and the use “of an abominable racial slur,” the university was called on to “adequately address” it. The Student Union also pointed out another racist fraternity-related incident at the same university that was caught on camera in which frat boys sing, “there will never be a n***** in SAE.”
The OU Black Student Union stated in a press release that the incident had still not been adequately addressed after the university stripped SAE of their fraternity house and national headquarters. It seems that while the sorority took action, the university is still investigating the incident and the only official statement released by the university’s president states that all the students have offered are apologies “in order to reflect their guilt.”
This is the Black Student Association’s official response. #BetterTogether pic.twitter.com/JYyIk7xcUR
— OU BSA (@OUBSA1967) January 18, 2019
Much like the protest held in 2015 after the SAE incident, the Black Student Union is hosting a “Rally to Stop Racism” on Tuesday to highlight the injustices suffered by the black students attending the University of Oklahoma.
Photo: via Niche
