It’s better than two generations ago. That doesn’t mean we’re living in a post-racial utopia, but it does mean I am not forced to sit on the back of the bus and drink at a separate water fountain. It means it’s better than two generations ago. No more, no less.

So in the wake of racial slurs being written on a student’s door earlier this month, I appreciated and applauded the Black Student Alliance, or BSA, for trying to foster an environment of diversity at MSU. Hosting public forums for students of all races and marching silently across campus in a display of unity are actions I can get behind.

BSA president Mario Lemons told the MSU Board of Trustees that black students “[don’t] feel safe at this university.” As a black student, my blood curdles hearing that phrase. That’s an overreaction of the highest kind. It’s hyperbole the likes of which turn public sentiment against the and black students in general.

Black students are safe on campus. I am safe on campus.

That’s not to trivialize the racist incidents on campus by any means. It’s to say only the cowardly individuals who did this should be blamed, not the rest of the student body. It’s to say that because the vast majority of people on this campus, regardless of race, are good people, the university is a safe place for students of all races. Saying otherwise isn’t being blind to perceived injustice, it just alienates students who aren’t black. It puts them on the defensive — making them less willing to accept that race is even an issue because of how uncomfortable it is to talk about.

And it’s much harder to have a conversation about racial acceptance when some don’t even think of it as a problem.

That’s not to lay all of the racial problems on campus at the feet of students and student organizations. MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon re-sent her letter to the MSU community after student organizations — and myself ­— said it didn’t seem like the university was taking these issues seriously.

Not to mention the insincerity of Simon bringing up at the Board of Trustees meeting her marching for civil rights as a student in the 1960s. That was 40-plus years ago; you mean to tell me President Simon has had no meaningful contact with the struggle for equality since then? To me, that smacked of pandering to minority students, of qualifiers — “I have a black friend, too, you know. I feel your pain.”

Sure, you might sympathize, but you don’t know the pain. It’s not just the blatant racism — not just getting pulled over for “driving while black.” It’s the barrage of jokes from people you aren’t friends with and don’t care to be friendly with.

It’s seeing the subtle shadow of racism when William Gholston, a black MSU football player, is called a “thug” multiple times white U-M fans.

It’s the research done in 2003 by the National Bureau of Economic Research that shows having a black-sounding name on a résumé cuts the chances of getting the callback by 50 percent.
It’s the feeling of society’s Sword of Damocles hanging over your every move, waiting for you to screw up so you can be marginalized as just another statistic.

I don’t want this to appear as if I disapprove of the overall job BSA has done trying to keep MSU honest about racism because I love what they are trying to accomplish. I don’t want this to seem doubtful about the reaction Simon and the board will have to these incidents because I’m hopeful the university can champion the cause of diversity.

I just want to point out that no one is all the way in the “right” side of the ledger here. Racism is a complex issue on this campus and in this country. It takes all sides working together to ensure the destruction of racism, and it’s much more difficult for the sides to get together if inflammatory rhetoric and kowtowing are the driving forces.

Tuck the marches and the schoolwide addresses away, and instead work together to make MSU a more comfortable experience for all students.

Lazarus Jackson is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at jacks920@msu.edu.