Week 5

Earlier this week, I read about a very disturbing incident that occurred at USC on The Washington Post the LA Times, and throughout Facebook. As I’m sure most of us have heard, USC Student Body President Rini Sampath was verbally attacked when a fraternity brother shouted a racial slur directed at her while she was walking on the row with her friends.  He shouted “you Indian piece of shit” and proceeded to throw a drink at her. Reading this story made me cringe for numerous reasons, as it is evidence that racism is still very much alive and well. However another part of Rini’s story that really shook me was how people were reacting to the whole situation. On Rini’s Facebook page, she received an outpour of support from family, friends, and peers, which is to be expected. What I did not expect was the amount of backlash that she received in the comments of The Washington Post article. One of the many comments that I stumbled upon mentioned that Rini should “toughen up” because the world is a scary place. First of all, this person is completely missing the point of the entire situation. Regardless of any other conflicts in the world, racial slurs should not be excused because they’re “only words.” Many people also commented that Rini should not be angry because she was elected Student Body President in the first place. I’m sorry, but regardless of her position at this school, the fraternity brother saw her only as a minority and attacked her out of disdain. She even mentioned in her Facebook post that once the rest of the fraternity recognized whom he was yelling at, they made their brother apologize. What if Rini was not the President? Would they have dismissed it? Other comments see this as a publicity stunt on Rini’s behalf as a way to get attention. Rini has acknowledged herself that this is not an isolated situation. Her experience is not any worse than those who have experienced the exact same thing. I just wish people would see that the racial slur thrown at Rini was simply not okay. Even if it was just this one fraternity brother (not representative of the entire student body), it is really important that this story is reaching a massive audience, as opposed to silence from minorities who have suffered in the same way. These stories need to be heard to prevent any further discrimination of minorities, whether they’re Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, etc. I don’t see Rini as having a hidden agenda, but I believe that she felt personally attacked, violated, and disgusted, which no human being should ever have to endure. Personally, I have not experienced such an atrocity in my time here at USC, but I feel better knowing that Rini is using her platform to inspire and educate people on an important issue. It could have been me that night- it could have been anyone.