To the Editor:

At St. Joe’s, everyone talks about the “magis.” This community quite literally defines itself as “men and women with and for others,” yet every semester, students of color are attacked. Every semester, students of color on this campus are made to feel unsafe.

The hypocrisy is getting too prominent for even the most optimistic among us. To be ignorant of the fear these students face is to tell them they don’t matter on this campus.

They do. Our institution assumes racism will just disappear with an apology letter and wishful thinking, but the problem runs much deeper than that. We must admit we are not doing nearly enough to challenge the privilege and the entitlement that permits and perpetuates this behavior.

It is an unforgivable shame that on this campus this act is reported as “another” racial incident. We shouldn’t be a campus of “another” incident, but rather a student body and environment that rejects this type of behavior at its very first appearance.

We must be better than those who have come before us. We must demand institutional and individual action in response to these racial attacks. St. Joe’s claims it is a community with and for others, but until we prove this through action, the words fall flat and this disgraceful behavior will continue.

To sum it up best: “When we are not hungry for justice, it is usually because we are too full with privilege” —Carlos A. Rodríguez

—Saint Joseph’s University College Democrats