On Monday evening, Twitter user @AllisaNova_ called for a “virtual demonstration” and asked black students to share their experiences of discrimination, prejudice, microagressions and racism at MU. “All Tigers welcome — current and Alum,” she tweeted.
Since then, thousands have used the hashtag #BlackAtMizzou; so many that it began trending nationally. Although each tweet is one person’s story, themes have emerged, notably lack of diversity among MU students and faculty, accounts of subtle and direct racism and feeling unsafe on campus.
The most liked tweet, with more than 2,300 likes as of Wednesday afternoon, is from @JJNotJayJay and recalls the protests of fall 2015, “when there was a shooting threat made targeting black students on campus and my professor thought an exam was more important than my safety.”
It shows a pair of messages in which the student says he fears for his safety coming to campus on a day when an exam is scheduled and asks to take it at a different time. The teacher responds by saying that the exam will go on as planned and that “if you give into bullies, they win.”
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