Racism on Yik Yak and SOU’s Response
Southern Oregon University, a school known for its inclusion of people of all races, genders and nationalities has recently faced issues threatening to tarnish that reputation.
Wednesday of November 18th a thread of racist and threatening comments aimed mostly at the black community of SOU appeared on the social media app, Yik Yak. The University is investigating the source of these comments to the best of its ability, however because of the anonymous nature of the app this may prove to be quite difficult. The official SOU news article here goes into more depth about the issues surrounding racist comments on Yik Yak, which seems to be something that has been going on for a very long time.
University President Roy Saigo has sent out several emails addressing the situation and reassuring students that the school will continue to strive for inclusion, equality and an environment of safety. Saigo further expressed the seriousness of the situation by stating:
“I want to assure you that the University is working to identify those responsible for the posts, and although there are challenges presented by the anonymous nature of Yik Yak, if we are able to determine the responsible parties and discover that they are SOU students, they will be subject to not only our internal disciplinary process, but possible prosecution as well.”
As with many other social media sites where people have the option of anonymity users are given a space to say whatever they want without having to face any real life consequences. Because of this kind of immunity sites and apps like Yik Yak end up attracting people with unpopular opinions and prejudices, giving them a space to express their hatefulness without restriction. For a more in depth look into Yik Yaks history and its large amount of racist comments read the article here.
Personally I think that this only goes to prove that even in the most inclusive environments people will still find a way to express their hate towards other people. If these students really are posting racist comments on Yik Yak it simply shows that there is a bigger issue at SOU that has gone unseen for too long. I believe that the school should be doing all it can to spread awareness and allow for open discussion of the topic.
This is something that the president of SOU seems to have realized as well as an email was sent out yesterday stating that:
“On Monday, November 30, from 12:30–1:30 in the Rogue River Room, we will:
-Make space to provide additional context to the posts that were made,
-Hear from a few members about how they have been impacted,
-Recognize Supporters and Allies in Social Justice,
-Briefly talk about how to reclaim agency in these situations”
Although this is definitely a step in the right direction I do think SOU could be doing more to eliminate racism as well as promoting equality amongst students. The SOU multicultural clubs and communities, although excellent for multicultural communities, apparently have not been spreading a feeling of inclusion amongst the rest of the student body. In order for the general population of the school to stop racism in its tracks there are going to have to be much greater steps taken by the school. This may be in the form of anti-bullying campaigns, enforcing stricter consequences to those who continue to act hatefully, protecting the black/multicultural communities and allowing them to freely speak out about this discrimination and possibly even discouraging the use of Yik Yak by SOU students.
The problems have obviously not only been confined to SOU either. Yik Yak is quickly gaining a reputation as a place for people to be as racist, sexist and hatful as they can be. Many universities have students being harassed and threatened on the app simply because of the color of their skin. This is an issue that Yik Yak needs to do something about. Whether they create a better flagging system for taking down comments or force people to become less anonymous there needs to be some measure taken to ensure that people feel safe and unthreatened.
One of the most well known racist comments on Yik Yak was posted by someone threating to shoot people of colour. Thestar.com said:
“After a user near the University of Missouri posted, “I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see,” the company released a statement saying,
“This sort of misbehavior is not what Yik Yak is to be used for. Period.””
Full article here.
Thankfully during this time SOU has taken action to raise awareness about this issue and is fully prepared to stand being students of color who feel threatened by these events. From here on out we can only hope that SOU will do all it can to reduce student racism and to show its students the negative implications of Yik Yak and the comments posted.
