No Spangles on This Banner
Today a banner was hung at EMU in response to the despicable graffiti found on campus Tuesday morning and as an act of solidarity with black students at EMU and the Black Lives Matter movement. It is not PoC who should be made to feel unsafe in Ypsilanti but the white supremacist, kkk members and sympathizers responsible for the graffiti and their friends who believe their desire to move through a particular intersection at a given time takes (violent) precedence over the collective need to gather in response to a racialized threat. If Eastern Michigan University and the city of Ypsilanti have fostered an environment where anyone feels safe writing racial slurs on walls, then we have failed as a community. Right now one message rings loud and clear: that black lives are less important than white lives, less important than a drive home from work to White Safety. But other voices also ring: voices that say black lives matter, that say #keepypsiblack, and we all need to add our voices, too. If any message should resound in our streets, should drip from the walls of the University, or blow in the breeze by the student center, it is this: that white supremacy has no place in our city and those that seek to uphold it should feel afraid.
Radical Washtenaw 
Great work RAW! Just one suggestion–please consider dropping the use of the term “graffiti” to refer to the racist writings. Graffiti is an important form of art and political resistance which should not be associated with these hateful desecrations.
I agree. I think maybe using the term ‘racist tagging’ would be more appropriate.
Great article! I don’t think we’re seeing enough coverage of this serious issue as we should be so I was pleased to see this article.
Replace graffiti with “an act of terror” because that’s what it is.
The white supremacist defacing could also be the work of the kids the university is recruiting out of Trump country.
Ypsi is a great place, not a haven of the KKK or extremist groups of any kind. Let’s not let graffiti nuts of whatever unknown stripe set us off on where we don’t want or need to go. Thanks EMU for removing this nonsense do quickly.