The University of Missouri continues to grapple with the implications of the most recent incident of racism on its Columbia campus.
Graffiti containing a racial slur was found in front of a residence hall on Saturday morning. It is the second racially-charged incident this year. At a panel discussion on hate crime today, Mizzou law professor David Mitchell said that African-American students and professors should be able to go class and work in an environment free of racism.
“I think about the psychic energy and the emotional trauma, since Saturday, expended, just to deal with this word," Mitchell said. "And the psychic energy and emotional difficulty it is to get up Monday morning and come to class and engage, as an African-American professor, looking out at faces and not knowing what beliefs they may hold.”
Other panelists shed light on the definition of hate crime and the history of racism in the Boone County area.