On Union Street on Dec. 10 three of our Black female Ohio University undergraduate students overheard a group of mostly white males using anti-Black racial slurs. According to the police report, the men “yelled at the individuals to challenge their use of the “N” word,” and then proceeded to follow the students while shouting racist obscenities at them. They then threatened our students with guns. We, the concerned community members of Athens, strongly condemn this incident of anti-Black intimidation, and we call upon our friends and neighbors in the Athens community to join in denouncing this unacceptable behavior. Moreover, it is important to view this act of intimidation in a historical context. Black Ohioans have encountered instances of anti-Black terror since the establishment of Ohio as a free state prior to the Civil War and into a contemporary moment, when a sign advertising Tablertown People of Color Museum in nearby Stewart Ohio was riddled with bullet holes. Unfortunately, knowledge about anti-Black violence in our community is little known, and this is partly because of institutional silence and suppression. For example, the ability to be truthful about our shared Ohio past and how it shapes today is under assault by legislation like Ohio Senate Bill 83. Novelist William Faulkner, one of the great chroniclers of race relations in the United States, wrote “the past is never dead. It is not even past.” Our Black students that were threatened at gun point by white men hurling racial slurs at them surely understand this. With your help, we wish to build a community and a world where these students do not feel the debilitating weight of our past.
Dylan Vanover, AAUP Southeast Ohio Organizer
Cory Crawford, Associate Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, Ohio University
Dan Dennis, Associate Professor, Department of Theater, Ohio University
Loren Lybarger, Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, Ohio University
Courtney Koestler, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education, Ohio University
Matt deTar, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Ohio University
Eddith Dashiell, Professor and Chair, Department of Journalism, Ohio University
Neil W. Bernstein, Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, Ohio University
Janet Duerr, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University
Katherine Jellison, Professor, Department of History, Ohio University
John Cotton, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ohio University
Pam Kaylor, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Ohio University
Rachel Terman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Ohio University
Charlie Morgan, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Ohio University
Patrick O’Keeffe, Associate Professor, Department of English, Ohio University
Robert Briscoe, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Ohio University
Jen Lisy, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education, Ohio University
Cassidy Brauner, Professor, Department of Art & Design, Ohio University
Gaby Castaneda, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Ohio University
Myra Waterbury, Professor, Department of Political Science, Ohio University
Andi Bender, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Fitness & Wellness, Ohio University
John O’Keefe, Associate Professor, Department of History, Ohio University
Lindsey Martin, Assistant Professor, Department of Film, Ohio University
Nicole Reynolds, Associate Professor, Department of English, Ohio University
Julie White, Professor, Department of Political Science, Ohio University
Joe McLaughlin, Associate Professor, Department of English, Ohio University
Sarah Webb, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Ohio University
Bethany Lemont, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Ohio University
Uzoma Miller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Instruction, Undergraduate Advising Coordinator, Provost Office Emerging Leader Fellow, Department of African-American-Studies, Ohio University
Gary Holcomb, Professor and Chair Department of African-American Studies, Ohio University
Marcquis Parham, Assistant Director of Career and Employer Engagement, Ohio University
Brian Stephens, Assistant Professor, Department of African-American Studies, IARTS, Media Studies, Ohio University
