Anti-Blackness

Halfway through the interview with Dr. Raymond Givens, two young boys materialize through the slightly-pixelated Zoom virtual background displaying the stoic face of the rapper Biggie Smalls. The little one pops cheerfully through the famous rapper’s mouth, waving a tiny green toy at the camera, and the taller one comes running through the rapper’s tilted plastic crown, grinning cheekily and tugging at his father’s surgical scrubs. Givens, smiling at his sons and not at all fazed by the distraction, smoothly introduces his six-year-old, Lucas, and his two-year-old, Nicholas, pausing momentarily to swoop Nicholas into his lap and put his arm around Lucas’ shoulder. Givens gently corrals them out of the room, apologizes for the interruption, and without missing a beat, returns to the discussion of his efforts to change the name of Bard Hall.

A swastika was drawn on the steps of Low Library on Tuesday night, according to statements released by both Barnard and Columbia where administrators condemned the act of vandalism and promised to work toward creating safe communities. There have been four incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism reported at Columbia in the past year.

Your point of view on society’s race issue can dictate the harm of your privilege. In this nation, attempts of self-representation by Black people are met with counter-narratives that silence or smother their testimonies.

This semester, there have been three reports of swastikas being painted on the 16th floor of East Campus. This is the same floor on which Chinese students’ name tags were burned in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Several acts of vandalism have been reported on the 16th floor of East Campus, according to an email sent by Residential Life to the building’s residents.

Zhifan Yang, BC ’20, was absent for the first week of the semester—a time during which most students have yet to decide on their courses—in order to spend the Lunar New Year with her family in China. When she arrived back in New York on Jan. 27, Barnard suggested that students returning from China seek medical screening.

The storefront in front of Old Broadway between 125th and 126th streets was supposed to be the answer for supporting a community suffering from gun violence, youth incarceration, and little afterschool programming. In 2013, longtime anti-violence activists Derrick Haynes and Taylonn Murphy received a grant for a project perfectly suited to be funded under Columbia’s financial commitment to the West Harlem community.