Gucci Little Piggy

Kicking. Squealing.

Goalposts shifted

It’s sort of like when you round up a group of friends to go to a movie and then when you get to the theater and the movie you were all dying to see is sold out and you say “ah, hell, since we’re here we might as well see something, right?”  That’s what’s going on with this whole Oberlin College case of “MistaKKKen” identity.  Now that awareness has been raised to a proper level, might as well have a nationwide teach-in on racist hate happenings.

Josh Voorhees at Slate:

Even if the KKK sighting turns out to have been a mistake, innocent or otherwise, it doesn’t change the fact that the school has struggled in recent weeks to handle an outbreak of hate speech-related vandalism.

And Grace Hwang Lynch at BlogHer:

Police were called out the college, where they weren’t able to find any Klansmen, but they did spot a woman walking around wrapped up in a blanket.

Oops.

So are we all good now?

Not so fast. You see, the reason why the potential KKK spotting was such a big deal is that in the past month, Oberlin College has had numerous incidents of racist and homophobic vandalism, documented on the Tumblr Oberlin Microagressions.

Lynch relates a string of minor incidents that took place on campus:

In 2009, a “Mexican Party” was thrown on campus where some attendees dressed as undocumented immigrants (whatever that entails) and drug dealers. During my senior year (‘09-’10), I was asked by a white girl one Saturday (in my own house, of all places) if my afro that day was in honor of the “Pimps and Hoes” party that evening. Both of these parties prompted campus-wide talks, solidarity meetings, discussions with the student senate and a forum or two. In 2011, someone spray painted “n*ggerf*ggot” on a dorm wall, and earlier this year, I saw a few posts on Facebook and Tumblr about someone scrawling “n*gger” on posters (different from the documented incidents above) along with a call to action, but there didn’t seem to be an overwhelming outpouring of student anger or responsiveness from the administration. In the end, incidents like these seemed to always blow over.

By the way, it seems to have been lost on people that the repetitive use of this term “niggerfaggot” in some of the scrawlings across campus are a reference to a skit performed by Donald Glover who later played the temporary love interest to Lena Dunham.

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10 Responses to Goalposts shifted

  1. everybodyhatesscott 03/05/2013 at 7:47 pm

    Of course, next time they have a hoax they’ll reference this hoax in previous unconfirmed incidents of the culture of hate.

  2. FL 03/05/2013 at 7:57 pm

    Her name is Grace Hwang Lynch. One of these names is not like the other…

  3. peterike 03/05/2013 at 10:20 pm

    Every man has a place
    In his heart there’s a space
    And the world can’t erase his fantasies
    Take a ride in the sky
    On our ship fantasize
    All your dreams will come true right away

    And we will live together
    Until the twelfth of never
    Our voices will ring forever as one

  4. peterike 03/05/2013 at 10:35 pm

    At Oberlin ’twas seen a Klannie
    The media said ’twas uncanny!
    A racist right here!
    Not a transgendered queer!
    The truth is there really weren’t any.

  5. William 03/05/2013 at 10:38 pm

    This would’ve been a big deal even if there weren’t previous incidents, they’re just damage controlling in case this turns out to be a BS.
    They finally had something big to latch onto and they aint gonna let it go.

  6. DelTaco 03/05/2013 at 11:37 pm

    Even if the KKK sighting turns out to have been a mistake, innocent or otherwise, it doesn’t change the fact that the school has struggled in recent weeks to handle an outbreak of hate speech-related vandalism.”

    TRANSLATION – No one can take this opportunity for self righteous fury away from us. Even if nothing really happened.

  7. Afrosheen 03/05/2013 at 11:39 pm

    More Sharmeka Moffitt shit…

  8. Thought Police 03/06/2013 at 1:54 am

    Anyone else see the parallels to Life of Brian in this?

    “Look, I had a lovely dinner, and all I said to my wife was that niggerfaggot was good enough for Jehova!”

    “He said it again! Did you hear him?”

    “I don’t see why it should be a crime…just saying ‘niggerfaggot….’”

    “You’re only making it worse for yourself!”

    It’d be hilarious if these people weren’t holding kangaroo courts and inflicting actual punishments on people for the “crime” *snickergiggle* of hurting their precious little feelings (And they say white people wallow in unseen privilege!). We should all show up at Oberlin College wearing Klan robes and hoods.Maybe throw in a few brownshirts and SS uniforms for good measure. They’d completely lose their shit.

  9. peterike 03/06/2013 at 8:26 am

    It’s now official. We reached Peak KKK.

  10. GregMan 03/06/2013 at 12:36 pm

    To be fair, it could have been a racist blanket she was wearing.

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