TCC: Hate graffiti inexcusable

By Shelly Williams/editor-in-chief

A different kind of bullying disgraced the halls of this college recently.

It wasn’t big enough to create chaos, but it was big enough that recognizing it could shake you to your bones.

On Nov. 4, NE student David Field approached The Collegian about a Star of David drawn on an NTAB wall. The Jewish symbol was crossed out with a black X and a mail package was displayed above it, he said.

His interpretation of the racially insensitive graffiti involved Yemen and the related mail bombings that happened earlier this month.

I saw it, having a class near the same hall as the graffiti.

Whether the interpretation is correct is not the point. The fact it was up there is wrong. How the incident was treated was even more so.

The student told us he found it Nov. 2. He said it offended him, and he called the police at least twice. By Nov. 4, nothing had been done.

Distraught, he came to the paper trying to find an administrator who would listen. He said if that didn’t work, he might bring in legal organizations. At that moment, an administrator walked by. He told her his story, and she reported it to police.

On Nov. 5, I headed to class only to discover the symbols still there. Stunned, I asked police if there were any plans to take it down and was told by a secretary that this was only the second time they’d heard anything about it, the first being from the administrator. Then, I was told it had to be handled by TCC’s building services, that the most police could probably do was file a report about it.

What’s difficult to understand is why it took four days to take a piece of paper off a wall. I called the head of NE building services Nov. 5. It apparently was the first he had heard about it as well. But within minutes, the drawing was down.

Maybe there was a lack of communication somewhere. Maybe it wasn’t made a priority.

But what it does show is that we haven’t overcome racism. We haven’t overcome hate for those who aren’t like us. We still don’t have respect for others if we’re willing to put hateful symbols on a college wall where everyone, no matter his or her situation, is supposedly welcome.

Respect and acceptance are what this nation was built on. How can we show the world this when we don’t even show it to our fellow peers?