Some microaggressions are really small. Most are Rorschach tests. If you can spot one, you're nuts.
And it doesn't get much crazier than this.
A Greek Life retreat at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) was promptly cancelled this weekend after a banana peel was found hanging in a tree.
“To be clear, many members of our community were hurt, frightened, and upset by what occurred at IMPACT,” Interim Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Alexa Lee Arndt remarked in an email between Greek leaders, according to The Daily Mississippian. “Because of the underlying reality many students of color endure on a daily basis, the conversation manifested into a larger conversation about race relations today at the University of Mississippi.”
The correct answer to this is 5 minutes of laughter.
It's a banana peel. There's no conversation about race here. There are only the voices in your head.
Apparently, student Ryan Swanson admitted to discarding the banana peel in a tree after he was unable to locate a garbage can, and it was later spotted by Alpha Kappa Alpha President Makala McNeil, who leads one of the campuses historically black sororities.
“The overall tone was heavy. I mean, we were talking about race in Mississippi and in the Greek community so there’s a lot involved,” McNeil recalled, later adding that she and her friend were “all just sort of paranoid for a second” after spotting the banana.
According to The DM, some students left the retreat in tears, with McNeil noting that they “didn’t feel welcome” and “didn’t feel safe.”
A banana peel made them feel unsafe.
The only way a banana peel can make you feel unsafe is if you slip on it.
Swanson apologized for the incident, writing in a statement that he wants to “sincerely apologize for the events that took place this past weekend.”
“Although unintentional, there is no excuse for the pain that was caused to members of our community,” he continued. “I have much to learn and look forward to doing such and encourage all members of our community to do the same.”
Paging Franz Kafka. Please pick up the banana courtesy phone.
While it is unclear how the university will proceed to handle the incident, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement Katrina Caldwell noted that she will be speaking with fellow leaders to decide “what makes the most sense.”
“Right now, we’re just talking to people on campus who have some experience working across diversity to help the students process what happened,” she added.
What happened is that a student littered after having a snack. Also that they've been subjected to a process designed to turn them into whiny obnoxious mental cases.
One of the students who discovered the banana peel that led the University of Mississippi to abruptly end a Greek Life retreat has explained that her “heart dropped instantly” at the sight.
Makala McNeil, who was one of the first to report the banana peel, wrote a letter to the editor of The Daily Mississippian.
“As we approached the cabin, she abruptly stopped. Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. She frantically pointed at a tree, exclaiming, ‘Look! Look! In the tree!’ It was a banana, dangling from a limb,” McNeil recounts, noting that her “heart dropped instantly” as she and her companions “began to scan the area around us to see if we were in any immediate harm.”
Her letter goes on to claim that “bananas have historically been used by white people as derogatory to dehumanize and denigrate black people," complaining that while some of the white students "seemed receptive" during a camp-wide meeting to discuss the incident, "others appeared apathetic."
“Even today, bananas remain an intimidation tactic, intended to instill fear in black communities,” she adds
Who hasn't been terrified of a banana? I recall the banana KKK who dressed in yellow and set fire to giant bananas.
On a less ridiculous note, just because something has been used in a deragatory way, isn't an excuse to treat any everyday encounter wth it as a threat.
But you will be utterly shocked to learn that McNeil bills herself as an "organizer." And, you never let a good banana crisis go to waste.
"I am a Afro-Ed black woman that won't stop until I rest in power| She/Her | Alpha Woman | @um_naacp Communications Chair | #BLM #SayHisName #SayHerName"
And she campaigns for all the expected things.
“We propose that UM Liberal Arts students be required to take 6-9 hours of multicultural courses, as well as an additional 12 hours of diversity-related extracurricular/volunteer hours. We believe that a multicultural course requirement will further institutionalize inclusion at the University of Mississippi, and advance UM’s mission of “enabl[ing] students to…understand a variety of world cultures as well as the richness and complexity of American society.” What’s more, such a requirement will push students to center the intellectual and historical contributions of marginalized communities (black, Latino/Chicano, indigenous, Asian, LGBTQIA+, disabled, women, etc.) in their educational narrative.”
Students Against Social Injustice member Makala McNeil told the Daily Mississippian that the additional course requirements would play “an in instrumental part” in bringing about further inclusion to campus.
And yes...
Ole Miss students occupy the Lyceum to demand expulsion of student for Facebook comment
The Internazis are at it again.