A rock that serves as a symbol of acceptance, unity, and refuge at the University of Michigan has been vandalized with paintings aimed at the Latino community.
The bedrock, which can be found near the campus in Washtenaw Avenue and Hill Street at Ann Arbor was designed and painted by a lot total of thirty-five freshmen last week at the University to show their support for the Latino American community with inscriptions like “ALMA 2017” and “Sí Se Puede,” which is a phrase in Spanish that means: “Yes It Can Be Done”. But the school community has been vandalized with provocative words like MAGA and other nasty terms.
“My heart dropped,” said Yvonne Navarrete, lead coordinator for ALMA and UM junior from Detroit. “In the middle of trying to create this sense of community for students and wanting to make them feel welcomed and letting them know you belong here, there was this act of hate.” Shortly after the incident, UM’s Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Robert Sellers released a statement in which he apologized for the incident and offered his support to the Hispanic communities of the University.
“While the incident is despicable and disappointing, it will not impact me, or my office’s efforts in continuing to create a diverse, equitable and inclusive University community, one where all members, including our Latino community, have an opportunity to reach their absolute potential,” Dr. Sellers said.
This incident makes it the second time at the University of Michigan has experienced racism issues this year, as there was a racist graffiti incident in one of the bathrooms at the campus. The University also witnessed similar issues last year.
According to a Facebook post by Rackham student Richard Nunn, the rock read “F— Latinos” and “MAGA,” short for Make America Great Again, or the slogan of President Donald Trump’s campaign.
This latest incident led to calls from different quarters that put pressure on the leadership of the campus to openly denounce the racist acts and look into the lack of Latino representation at the top hierarchy of the college’s management board.
“When the incident that occurred last week,” said Richard Nunn, an ALMA adviser and UM doctoral student from Monroe, “these offices and administrators provided key allies for us, but had no members from our community in place to provide support.” As it pertains to our nation and the current issues affecting the Latino population, Nunn addresses an even greater issue when considering the representation of the Latino people in our current governmental ruling. “Our nation’s president continues to spread messages of hate but helps us realize that too many others share his horrific views; any assumption that some of whom are not members of our university community would be naive,” continued Nunn. After the incident, a group repainted the rock with a large message that states “Latinx belongs.”