Fort Smith Four

citizens need to look at our own history: this country would not exist without people of all colors building the United States. Despite that fact, racism was severe for hundreds of years. Human beings were beaten, killed, forced to live in lesser conditions because of the color of their skin, an evolutionary and biological factor they could not control.

 

Not only does this issue help shed light on a severe lack of equal treatment in this nation, but it also reflects badly on other students. It reflects badly on the university, it reflects badly on the fraternity, and it reflects badly on Greek life as a whole. Greek life is about being apart of something bigger than oneself. It is about serving one’s community and finding a forever home. But there are no national stories about Greeks doing good within communities. Just stories exposing Greek members as bigots and bullies.

 

Fifty years later, not much has changed. Young white men are still discriminating and rejecting people of other races. One notable difference is now a majority of people are not okay with it- these exposed racists are being reprimanded for their actions. While it is not the equal world people deserve to live in, it is a slow step in the right direction.

 

Another example of racism that can be tied to the local Fort Smith community is the Confederate flag scandal. It all began when a white gunman entered a black church in South Carolina and killed several people. Later it was revealed that he only did it because they were black. Not long after it happened, it was pointed out that the South Carolina state capitol was still flying the Confederate flag outside. Many took offense to this, pointing out the racist history and undertones of the flag. They found it offensive that the flag was still flying after the attack.

 

It became a nationwide debate as to whether the Confederate flag was a symbol of racism. During the Civil War, the south created and used the Confederate flag to represent their fight. Many people say their fight was that slavery was okay. There is much more history surrounding the Civil War and what happened and if people educated themselves then perhaps everyone would come to an agreement.  But this is beside the point.

 

People took two sides: heritage and hate. There were the people, prominently in the south, which flew the flag with an excess amount of pride, saying it was for their southern heritage. Then there was the side that screamed racism, saying flying the flag was offensive. What I found interesting the whole time this controversy was overtaking the media, no one was asking those who might be offended what they think.

While the media was excessively covering whether it was right or wrong to fly this flag, funerals were being held for those who died at church, simply for the color of their skin. Children were starving. Women were being abused. Men were living in boxes. Yet all anyone could talk about was a symbol. That is all a flag is in the end is a symbol. And a symbol only has meaning if you give it a meaning. All these people were doing were fueling the symbol’s meaning.

 

Locally, the racism issue has emerged with Southside High School. Their mascot, Johnny Reb and the Rebels, received national attention and not in a positive way. Johnny Reb or Johnny Rebel is the national personification of the Southern states of the United States, or less generally, the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Patriots used Johnny Reb and his Union counterpart Billy Yank to symbolize the common soldiers in the American Civil War of the 1860s. Southside High School’s fight song was Dixie. The lyrics were originally intended reflect the mood of the United States in the late 1850s toward growing abolitionist sentiment. The song presented the point of view common to minstrelsy at the time, say critics, that slavery was overall a positive institution. The Confederate flag was flown at Southside games and events. Suddenly, all of Southside was under scrutiny. Those who defended their mascot were racist and those who did not defend it did not have school pride. There was no winning. The issue has since been resolved and Southside’s mascot beginning in Fall 2016 will be the Mavericks. While it has slowly come out that the Maverick mascot also has racist origins, no big fallout has occurred.

Racism still exists. The worst part is it is often not on purpose. It is something ingrained into our psyche from a young age through media and society. Sometimes it is on purpose. Either way, it needs to change. Equal rights is something that can exist in my life time and I hope I live long enough to see it happen.