On Monday afternoon, more than 150 Lehigh students gathered around the flagpole in front of the Clayton University Center for a demonstration organized by the Black Student Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd grew over the course of an hour as professors and students spoke out against racism on campus in response to recent events.<\/a><\/p>\n Attendees held signs condemning racism on campus, and some wore shirts reading, \u201cRacism has no place at Lehigh.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Black Student Union President Justin Burrell, \u201826, opened the event by welcoming attendees and introducing the first speaker, professor Kashi Johnson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson, chair of the theater department, said she\u2019s served as the faculty adviser for Black Student Union for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI know (Lehigh),\u201d she said. \u201cI know it deeply in my bones what it feels like to live, to work and breathe here in a Black female body over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson said what\u2019s happening on campus is painful and not new. She said she remembers how students step forward in the face of injustice, refusing to let it pass quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI am choosing to say plainly, we will not accept this,\u201d she said. \u201cNot now, not ever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson concluded her speech by sharing words from poet, essayist and playwright Claudia Rankine.<\/p>\n Kaitlan Prioleau, \u201827, then took the stand, introducing herself as a multifaceted individual, but above all else, a Black student at Lehigh. To explain what that means to her, she read the poem \u201cBlack Sonnet\u201d by Candace Williams with the crowd.<\/p>\n Prioleau was the one who saw and reported the second BORG<\/a> incident this semester. She described the night she found it, explaining she was walking home after parking her car when she noticed blackface drawn on the jug.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t quite realize what it was, and in the moment I actually thought I was dreaming because it was quite late,\u201d Prioleau said. \u201cThere\u2019s no words on it, just blackface. I was in shock.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She said she didn\u2019t know how to respond when experiencing a hate incident, so she chose to speak out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prioleau read comments posted under her Yik Yak post, which included a photo of the BORG and received mixed reactions.\u00a0<\/p>\n One commenter suggested the BORG was planted by a Black student for attention. Prioleau clarified she didn\u2019t plant it, while another comment suggested it would be best to leave it alone rather than make a \u201cbig stink.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not making a big stink out of it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m doing the necessary things to advocate for myself, to advocate for students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Prioleau said reporting situations like this is exhausting and overwhelming. She said she experiences stares, whispering and pointing on campus, but believes action is necessary. She added such events shouldn\u2019t be happening on campus or anywhere in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just me,\u201d Prioleau said. \u201cI\u2019m not (at) the forefront of this revolution, or whatever you want to call it \u2014 it\u2019s all of us. It\u2019s all students. It takes every single one of us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Prioleau concluded by encouraging students to remain motivated and continue advocating for change.\u00a0<\/p>\n