A fraternity at Tulane University built a mock “border wall” in front of the frat house. The wall has Trump’s name on it and his slogan “Make America Great Again.” The fraternity brothers meant for it to be a joke, but some students got offended. Trump’s name has become a synonym for racism and xenophobia. Their classmates said the wall was offensive to people of color.
Here is what they had to say about it in a statement from the organization:
“Our chapter takes KA’s values of gentlemanly conduct very seriously. This respect extends to every student of Tulane and every member of the broader community. A comment was written on a makeshift wall on our private property, normally used for a game of capture the flag, to mock the ideologies of a political candidate. This had an unintended negative effect and as such it has been dismantled.”
Some other students took down the wall because they were mad about seeing this symbol of hate on their campus. Trump has talked about building a wall on the US-Mexico border and he wants the Mexican president to pay for it. More recently, Trump has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country. He also said that Muslims in this country should wear special badges.
One student, Khristyan Anthonee Trejo, had this to say about the wall:
“This really pushed it overboard for students of color on campus. It’s one thing to see an endorsement of Trump on campus — that’s freedom of speech — but it’s another to see the wall when it’s a symbol of racism and oppression. As someone with family across the (Mexico-United States) border and knowing people are murdered at the border every day, for (KA) to treat it as a joke and try to justify their actions with satire — well, it’s not a joke to students of color.”
Hopefully, these fraternity brothers will find better ways to make jokes at their house.
Featured image by Gage Skidmore via flickr, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.
