issues with IC’s administration back to the years of former College President Tom Rochon, who resigned following a wave of protests against his administration in 2017. “We should hold all our leaders to the same kind of principles that we expect,” said Professor Soyinka-Airewele while reciting several allegations of lawbreaking, corruption, and general abuse of power by Dr. Brown which they detail on their website. “It should not happen that our students are studying in an institution that considers these as negligible offenses. They are major.” We reached out to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees to comment on this story. In their response, they acknowledged that they were aware of the allegations, which they called “personal.” The suggestion that the allegations against Dr. Brown are a mere personal matter is not new to Professor Soyinka-Airewele. She says these are not personal issues, but an issue of ethics and character of those holding positions of power within Ithaca College.
“Let me say this without any ambiguity. This is not about a domestic, personal situation. This is about a public problem about the misuse of public office both in the Ithaca community and Ithaca College,” said Professor Soyinka-Airewele. We also reached out to Dr. Luvelle Brown for comment on this story, but as of publishing, he did not respond. This fight has taken its toll on Ms. Brown, what she described as “exhaustive progress.” But, Ms. Brown has seemingly come out of it with some silver linings. She has taken a position along with Professor Soyinka-Airewele on the Tompkins Human Rights Commission and gained a strengthened resolve. “I’m in this for as long as it takes,” said Ms. Brown acknowledging the fight is not merely one of right and wrong, but a personal one for herself and more importantly, her children. Visit our website for a detailed list of grievances against Dr. Brown.
George Christopher is a third-year journalism major who is always asking the toughest questions. They can be reached at gchristopher@ithaca.edu.
Have You Forgotten?
Reckoning with racism at college and beyond // by Kevin Gyasi-Frempah, Staff Writer
I
t has been almost six months since America’s supposed reckoning with its horrific relationship with people of color. In Atlanta, a man went to three different spas and murdered 8 people, 6 of whom were Asian women, following a year in a pandemic that has exacerbated anti-Asian sentiments and actions. Lives stolen because we live in a society that made these actions acceptable; a society where warning people that calling a deadly virus as China Virus, Wuhan Virus, or Kung Flu would lead to hate crime is labeled “political correctness.” So it proved frustratingly predictable when President Biden said of these attacks: “It’s wrong, it’s Un-American and it must stop.” It is wrong. It must stop. But is it un-American? I will concede that these attacks go against the values of egalitarianism and liberty that America claims to champion. However, a nation founded on white supremacy has a familial relationship with hate crimes. A nation that enacted policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and Executive Order 9066 wouldn’t have antiAsian hate crimes out of its capacity. This anti-acknowledgment of this country’s real past proves symptomatic of its favorite pastime: forgetting. White Americans have the luxurious gift of forgetting pain. I say this knowing that white people feel pain and encounter hardship. However, white Americans hardly ever feel pain or encounter hardship because of their whiteness. White Americans were not kidnapped, chained and whipped for centuries. White Americans were not murdered or had their land stolen. White Americans were not kept out of the
country by law for decades. The white supremacy of America kidnapped and enslaved Africans. The white supremacy of America murdered the indigenous and stole their land. The white supremacy of America banned and excluded Asians and Latinx. The white supremacy of America thrived in the nation of “all men are created equal.” Those that suffered at the hands of white supremacy are cursed with those scars of memory. I don’t fault the descendants of those white Americans who whipped, kidnapped, chained, murdered, stole and excluded. No one should not be blamed nor irredeemably tarnished by the sins of their fathers. However, the sins didn’t die with the father. They stayed from generation to generation and century to century. And now that sin, the sin of white supremacy, has also created this prevalence of forgetting. Even when it appears that more white Americans will remember, the habit of forgetting will always return. In 2020, America seemed to reckon with its abusive relationship with Black Americans. With mass protests occurring over the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, this time looked different than all the other murders. However, the same hope for justice that appears with every high-profile murder dissipated and turned false. A few months afterward, support for Black Lives Matter dropped, even as the very same threat of state-sanctioned Black death remained. While all groups, besides Blacks, had lowered support, white Americans had the sharpest drop. It went from 60% to 45%. It went from a majority of white Americans supporting the movement to a minority. Contrary, other racial groups’ support
6
