February 8, 2019

Page 1

THE GATEPOST Framingham State’s independent student newspaper

Volume 87 • Issue 14

February 8, 2019

FSUgatepost.com

FSU faculty, staff, and students gather outside the McCarthy Center on Monday, Feb. 4 to show support for students in light of the recent hate crime.

Corey McFeeley / THE GATEPOST

Hate crime reported on campus “How to Be Less Stupid about Race” FSUPD investigates “racially biased” vandalism

Author Crystal Fleming visits FSU

By Bailey Morrison Editor-in-Chief

By Tessa Jillson Interim Arts & Features Editor

By Nadira Wicaksana News Editor A student reported “racially biased” graffiti to FSUPD after a Horace Mann women’s bathroom stall was vandalized on Feb. 1. The crime occurred between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., according to FSUPD. Sgt. Martin Laughlin said FSUPD is investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. “We’re looking at this as a hate crime because it is going after a specific group.” According to Laughlin, the perpetrator(s) wrote “die black b***h” on the side of one of the stalls. He said, “There are cameras in the general Horace Mann hallways. So, our officers looked through that footage.” Laughlin added, “We were able to identify [people] and obtain names. Now, just because they are on the camera does not mean that

News

they are immediately guilty. … We are trying to do our due diligence to find people/persons who committed this act.” He said the dorms are a “student safe haven and we do want to give the students privacy, as it is their home away from home … but given the circumstances, we are making a valiant effort to let students know that we are out there.” FSUPD will “reach out” to the community if there are any updates that can be shared without “tarnishing the case,” Laughlin said. John Santoro, deputy chief of FSUPD, said in an email given to The Gatepost by Millie González, interim chief officer of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, that 14 female students were observed and identified entering and exiting the bathroom during the timeframe. In the email, Santoro said eight of the residents have been interviewed regarding the graffiti as of press time.

See HATE CRIME page 3

Opinions

Crystal Fleming, author and educator, discussed her new book “How to Be Less Stupid about Race,” focusing on how individuals can use their knowledge about race and racism to mobilize and change society, to a packed audience on Mon. Feb. 4 in DPAC. Fleming acknowledged how much it means to come together to discuss uncomfortable conversations about race and racism after the incident that happened on friday and after the incidents that have happened all over the country. “Not on my watch. Not on our watch will we allow these things to happen and not stand up against it,” she said. When Fleming was younger she said the learning environment she grew up in didn’t teach her about race or racism. She was raised by her mother who, and the classes she took in school, decide to not address rac-

Arts & Features

ism. But, in her mother’s case, it was in order to protect Fleming. “She wanted me to believe that I could do anything. ... She didn’t want any racist ideas about being black, being a black girl, to hold me back,” she said. Fleming said she had no intention of studying sociology and race until she took FSU sociology professor Ira Silver’s Intro to sociology to fulfill a requirement at Wellesley, where she began as a biology major. She said the class read a book that changed her life. The book, “Ain’t No Makin’ It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood” by Jay MacLeod, was about a study conducted in the Boston area analyzing the experiences of young boys in working class neighborhoods dealing with racism and class oppression. What was interesting, Fleming said, was that the white boys in the study who didn’t care about school and the boys of color in the study who focused on their school work

See CRYSTAL FLEMING page 10

Sports

SGA pg. 4

EDITORIAL pg. 7

ROBBIE’S COMIC CORNER pg. 11

HOCKEY pg. 14

HOUSING SECURITY PILOT pg. 5

COMIC pg. 9

KINGDOM HEARTS III pg. 12

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL pg. 15

INSIDE: OP/ED 7 • ARTS & FEATURES 10 • SPORTS 13


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