October 14, 1996
March, vigil, and rally held to protest racist drawing
Over 500 members of the Five College community marched from Unity House to Wilson House in protest of the lynching drawing a Wilson House first year had discovered on her dry erase board. The group met at 7 p.m. at Unity House and participants carried candles as they marched. At Wilson House, a microphone was set up so that people could express how they felt about the incident. Students from Wilson House spoke, as did Director of Institutional Diversity Carmen Santana-Melgoza. President Simmons spoke as well, recalling in tears the prejudice that she herself had faced during her childhood in the South and saying, “For all those that may think this is overly magnetized, remember that there are people all over this country that live in constant fear.” Many students were happy about the overall participation, though not all; however, several students expressed disappointment over the lack of faculty participation.
The full Sophian article on the march, vigil, and rally can be found here (1, 2).
Sophian letters to the editor on the march can be found here and here.
[Last updated on October 16, 2018]