‘Last night as I was walking back from my friend’s apartment, a student screamed out at me through the window of his fraternity house, “You Indian piece of shit!” before hurling his drink at my friends and me,” states Rini Sampath’s Facebook post.
A student and USC Student President and Arizona resident for 16 years, Rini says that the shock wasn’t so much the racist slur but the instant apology from people around.
“Once his fraternity brothers realised it was me, they began to apologise. This stung even more. Today, as I try to unpack these events, I couldn’t quite figure out why their after-the-fact apologies deepened the wound. But one of my friends explained it to me the best this morning: “Because now you know, the first thing they see you as is subhuman.” And that’s the first thing some students on our campus see when they look at anyone who looks like me.
“This was the same fraternity that kicked out a peer of mine from their tailgate after calling him a “fag.” That’s sickening.”
In an attempt to stop these incidents from being a part of immigrants’ lives and sweeping them under the carpet, Rimi wanted to draw some attention and support with this post. “There’s an indescribable hollowness in me, but I’m going public with this because this can’t continue. Some people don’t believe racism like this can happen on our campus. Some people continue to doubt the need for safe spaces and the need for expanded cultural resource centers or the need for gender neutral bathrooms or the need for diversity in our curriculum or the need for diversity in our professors or the need for diversity in dialogue. And to those who continue to believe we’re just playing the “race” card, I ask you this – what’s there to win here? A sense of respect? A sense of humanity? A sense of love and compassion for others regardless of how they look like?” she asks.
[fb_post]https://www.facebook.com/rinisampath/posts/10206712441666367[/fb_post]
Since Rini wrote about the incident on Facebook on Sunday, she received thousands of supportive messages and her post has been shared by many achievers including Pulitzer Prize-winning author and MIT professor Junot Diaz.
The USC Interfraternity Council also issued a statement condemning the actions and lending their support to Rini and other victims of racism and bias. The statement also supported the decision to suspend the offending student’s fraternity membership.
“My intention of making this public plea is so we can move forward, come up with solutions and come together as a community,” says the 21-year-old.
More On >> Work & Life
