Why we published the KKK column
In the April 13 edition of The Daily Illini, a guest column by medical student Raymond Morales appeared. Morales had come forward earlier in the month during an ISS meeting and claimed responsibility for chalking the various KKK messages across campus. Most who saw the images felt a bevy of emotions ranging from fear, disgust, embarrassment and anger or were just downright puzzled. During the past month or so (which happened to correspond to the student elections) a major issue around campus was the use of spray-chalk by candidates. However, the story took on a new dimension with the introduction of the KKK. When all the spray-chalk proved to be immensely difficult to remove, most of campus was left to wonder who did all this. It got worse because the chalk persisted during one of the University’s biggest annual events, the Engineering Open House. Some of it can still be found today.
Unfortunately, not many people pay attention to the comings and goings of ISS. When Mr. Morales revealed himself and explained why he did it, few people heard him. And perhaps, some would rather have it stay that way. However, sometimes it is to everyone’s benefit to hear unpopular (enormously, I’d imagine) opinion. Unpopularity breeds debate and hopefully, debate leads to understanding.
While some will surely find Morales’ message revolting and infuriating, I believe removing the mystique around something as evil as the KKK is necessary for everyone to understand the climate in which one would be compelled to remind us of its existence. And while the argument can certainly be made that Morales’ is digging up old dirt, I do believe that it is healthy to continue the dialog between not only different ethnic groups, but also between the past and the present.
You can certainly disagree with Mr. Morales’ M.O. (I do.) but for better or worse, he got peoples’ attention without resorting to violence or breaking any laws and that’s to his credit.
Our job at The Daily Illini is to inform the campus community as best we can about as much as we can. The Opinions page, despite past controversy, is still one of the best places for the campus to express itself. While I do not personally agree with a fair amount of what I end up running each day, one thing this job teaches me constantly is that dissent is a virtue. This particular situation is no different.
The race debate in America shows no sign of slowing down. If you don’t believe me, Don Imus and the Duke Lacrosse team would like to have a word with you. While these controversies are far away, it is important to remember that there are still important issues to deal with here at home. If the publication of this column sparks a productive dialog during one of the most heated periods this institution has ever seen, then perhaps it will be worth weathering the angry reaction.
So please, send me a letter at opinions@dailyillini.com or leave a comment on this blog or on the column itself and we’ll take it from there.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
“You can certainly disagree with Mr. Morales’ M.O. (I do.) but for better or worse, he got peoples’ attention without resorting to violence or breaking any laws and that’s to his credit.”
Last I checked, vandalism is breaking the law. That spray paint is costly to remove.
April 16th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
We noted in a story about a month ago that the chalking was not considered vandalism by University Police because despite it’s persistence, it is not permanent in the same vain as spray paint.
Read about it here.
http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2007/03/16/News/Graffiti.On.Campus-2777969.shtml
April 17th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Fine. Forgive me for at first glance not being able to tell the difference between the two. Anyword yet on what it takes to get “Spray Chalk” cleaned up. Been at least a month now and all the rain and storms we’ve had in Urbana haven’t even begin to remove it. How about getting the maintainence crews out here to wash it off? How much is that going to cost? When this department brings in potential faculty canditates, new graduate recruits, and seminar speakers many of whom are potential collaborators in research projects, the first thing all these people see is the “spray chalked” KKK written on the sidewalks and buildings. It’s bad for the image of the department and it’s bad for the University. I guess I’m more mad at the time it’s taken for the University to clean it up than anything else. Course that said, I would be pretty upset if someone “spray chalked” my property.
April 17th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Yeah, spray chalking from the student elections was a huge problem too. Hence why the University has since then made a policy against all spray chalking or not. I believe the KKK spray chalkings happened before this policy, though (same as the election chalkings).