BUZZ
One student on TPUSA: ‘I honestly don’t know what [the group] would do to me, and I don’t want to find out’
The University of Arkansas student paper spoke recently with various students of color about the “prevalence” of racism in the northwestern part of the state.
The Arkansas Traveler notes it can be “challenging” for minorities who choose to attend a PWI — predominately white institution — like UA with a “diversity rate” of less than 25 percent.
The paper reminds readers that Arkansas spawned the Ku Klux Klan, and the town of Harrison was dubbed by The Washington Post as “the most racist town in America.”
It also cites the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center in claiming the student group Turning Point USA has “links with right-wing extremists” and believes in “a shift toward patriarchal Christian supremacy.”
Some students told the paper they believe TPUSA is responsible for “tension” on campus. Although the Traveler notes the group was founded by Charlie Kirk, it doesn’t mention that he was assassinated on a college campus last year.
Psychology major Mai Jones (pictured) said TPUSA “promotes hateful rhetoric” and “purposely causes division among students.” She even fears for her life: “I honestly don’t know what [the group] would do to me, and I don’t want to find out.”
Jones added she believes university officials only permit the TPUSA on campus not because of the First Amendment, but “due to all the paperwork involved.”
“Realistically, you’re just being hateful and cruel to innocent groups of people, and I just think the university doesn’t want to get involved in the politics of all that,” she said.
Latino UA fine arts major Dominic Solis, a lifetime resident of the area, told the Traveler it “feels different” now — that people are less “empathetic” regarding deportations than they were about a decade ago.
The Deportation Data Project claims over 3,000 people have been deported from Arkansas since last year. Solis’ mother was deported “a few years” before that, according to the article.
“A pastor made a comment about how my English was really good, and repeated it multiple times to me — it made me feel really uncomfortable and stupid,” Anthropology Junior Valentina Aomi said.
Aomi’s experience as a South Asian points to the quieter side of racism: not overt hostility, but small, repeated moments that mark someone as an outsider in a place that they are originally from.
“I don’t wear a hijab because I’m worried people would use it to discriminate against me,” Jones said. “I feel like there’s this fear of being a brown person and Muslim on campus, especially now — I can’t be open and proud about my heritage because there’s so many people that could possibly hurt me.”
Jones said while she hasn’t personally experienced any discrimination on campus, she still feels uncomfortable wearing a hijab in public.
Both Aomi and Jones said things that occur during “their daily routines” continue to make them feel “uncomfortable” around campus — it could be “a single remark or a lingering sense of unease.”
Yet another (anonymous) student added they feel “more alienated” because they’re the “only or one of the few people of color” in their classes.
MORE: U. Arkansas System makes it easier to fire outspoken conservative professors
