A Miami Grad Student talks about the movement building in Southwest Ohio, and the disgusting things happening at Miami.
Last April a young gay man was brutally beaten with his assailant saying to him, ““F****ts do not belong in society.” Shortly before that in March, a Miami sorority desecrated the Underground Railroad Museum during an event, even defecating on artifacts being displayed. Last fall, three black students were approached by a man who told them that their kind did not belong in Oxford. And this spring, a gay student was beaten by a two young men, one black the other white. It seems that they’ve learned to share the hate.
You have to understand this background to get why I am so monumentally pissed off at what happened at an event in support of public education last Friday. Ohio is considering “charter universities” in which the state would cut funding while providing the university greater autonomy. A similar move in Virginia removed caps on tuition rate increases, leading to a “24% hike this year. That’s one of the issues we were raising about this plan to make Miami a charter. So we have our event. And one of the college republicans tries to crash the event by putting on the blackface, and getting in people’s faces. Just wait it gets better.
At our rally for public education, John Howting, President of the Miami Chapter of the Intercollegiate Studies institute, Came dressed as “Hugo Marnez,” blackface and all.
So this Howting guy shows up, but he’s lathered himself in tanning lotion to make himself look darker, and is saying that his name is “Hugo Marnez.” He’s got this petition with him to “ban all privatization.” He’s saying that he’s with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which I didn’t catch on to at first, but someone else figured out. So he has this lackey running with him taping the whole thing.
This apparently was the ISI and College Republicans attempt at a counterargument as to why Miami should become a charter university: blackface. Basically this guy tries to darken his appearance assume a Latino name, and play on ethnic stereotypes. A fine cap on the year of racist bs at Miami, bought and paid for by the university when they brought in the speaker who clearly inspired this.
