Specifically, they’re miffed at the alert’s wording: “A 5-foot-11-inches tall Black male with a beard, mustache, medium length hair and unknown clothing.”
In a February 1 editorial, the editors claim they have “no problem” with the university sending the alert “with the intention of telling the community to ‘take precautions to not become victims.’” Officials made “the right call” because sexual assault is a big deal — “no matter the perpetrator’s race or ethnicity.”
But … officials did not “just” send out a crime alert (emphasis in the original). They also “invoked fear” because they “‘painted every relatively-tall Black man with facial hair as a suspect.”
“We take issue with the university not waiting until it gleaned more information on the alleged suspect,” the editors write. “By sending such a vague description to the community and not specifying the exact location of the alleged incident, Black men anywhere on campus at the time were placed in immediate danger.”
Black people, they continue, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and “none of this is a result of [them] actually committing crimes at higher rates.”
This country’s criminal justice system has molded us to unconsciously associate crime and violence with Black communities. That same unconscious bias has led people to cling to the myth that is Black on Black crime. We saw it when rioting and looting were associated with Black Lives Matter, when in actuality it was discovered that over 90% of BLM protests were peaceful. We see it in every mugshot sent in city crime press releases and posted to news organizations’ websites, a policy The University Star has had to address in recent months. …
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