When California State University, East Bay experiences hate speech, the students and staff will never stay idle with their voices silenced.
Some of the students felt the need to join in on the organized rally on campus last week during University Hour. They made sure their voices rang out loud and proud.
Students gathered in unity as they chanted together “No Hate at Cal State!”. These words pierced the ears of people walking past, adding their voices to the ongoing chanting. The passion to stand up against hate on CSUEB’s campus grew as more people made their voices heard.
On September 24th hate speech was discovered written in chalk on the walls of the bottom floor of Meiklejohn Hall. The words were quickly removed but the knowledge that someone wrote things that insinuate hate is an unsettling thought.
A No Hate Speech rally was held as a direct reaction to the hateful writings that were found on the walls of Meiklejohn. The rally took place in front of the bookstore plaza and it was made known, CSUEB has zero-tolerance for hate speech.
“We felt it was important to respond publicly and loudly to this incident,” said rally organizer Lori “Froggie” Nixon. “[We needed] to show whoever wrote the hate speech that we have significantly more power on this campus and we will defend each other.”
“Stand Up! Fight Back!” was the motto students chanted as the rally went on.
No one wants to feel like they are being targeted when attending classes, so students made it clear we are here as a united front to be inclusive to all who attend the university.
“Trump 2020”, “Black Rifle Lives Matter, “Only 2 Gender”, and “It’s OK to be White” were the words used as hate speech found written on campus. People expressed how they felt about hate speech and made it clear that it is not okay to write words of hate anywhere on campus.
“Whoever wrote it is clearly alienated from the greater community and wanted to ruffle some feathers,” said Nixon.
According to the Pew Research Center, “The U.S. Senate heard testimony on the increasingly effective use of social media for the advancement of extremist causes…”. Hate speech is a concern since people have easy access to hate groups online.
Words can spark hate but CSUEB will not go silent into the night.