What does it take? This is the direct question I ask the College. Throughout the first two months of this semester, there have been several hate crimes directed toward Black students. These hate crimes have often occurred on Route 2, with racist individuals in vehicles intimidating, taunting, and demeaning Black students by harassing them with several racist slurs, including the N-word. Some of the perpetrators have even stopped their cars in the middle of the road for the sole purpose of harassing and harming Black students, particularly and disproportionately Black women. 

In an email on Oct. 23, the Black Student Union reached out to Campus Safety Services (CSS), detailing these repeated instances of harassment. Yet, as we all saw in our inboxes when CSS sent out a campus-wide email on Nov. 3 alerting students of a bias incident involving vandalism in Frosh Quad that weekend, there was no mention of this anti-Black harassment that had been going on for weeks.  

The intention of this piece is not to discuss the dissemination of information about that particular bias incident but rather to directly ask: Where is this urgency when it comes to the harassment of Black students? Why must I sit here and spend hours drafting an op-ed to communicate the extent of the violence against the Black community here on campus? What does it take for anti-Black violence to be deemed “significant” or “worthy” of the College’s time, effort, and care?

Throughout this process, several Black students, including myself, have been asked to attend multiple meetings and have sent several emails not only detailing the anti-Black violence that has occurred, but also explaining — to people who should be tending to and caring for our general wellbeing without placing the burden of labor on us — why our pain matters. 

Why do Black students have to undergo painstaking unpaid labor to advocate for the significance of unprovoked, racist violence against us? Why is the mantle and the burden constantly on Black students and Black staff to care for Black life? The safety and wellbeing of Black students is not just a “Black problem.”

Black students deserve to receive the same attention and care as all other students on this campus without excessive Black labor. 

To my Black peers who have suffered from this violence, I would like to say that I am sorry and that you are seen. You deserve to be able to walk to your classes without fear of being called slurs. You deserve to be able to walk across the road without any sort of fear for your life. You deserve to have a community that cares about your wellbeing and safety. You deserve to have an institution that responds with urgency when your safety is compromised.

To my Black peers who have witnessed and been harmed by the underservings of this institution, I would like to say that this is absolutely unacceptable and this is not the standard. 

Anti-Black intimidation, harassment, pain, and violence is not a joke. 

Anti-Black violence is not to be written off.

Xavier Wills ’27 is from Toano, Va.