The Dartmouth community must speak out against the recent incidents of hate speech directed at minority students and today's Colors rally provides the forum for such a response.
The recent incidents of hate speech against members of specific groups on campus is nothing new. This term the target is Asian Americans, Fall term the target was homosexuals and Summer term the target was women. The public outcry that always follows these incidents, again, is nothing new.
It only takes one person to scribble a racist message, to read a sexist poem or to write "kill the faggots" on a gay friendly space sticker, but one person's expressions of racism and intolerance speak loudly in a community of mostly accepting and educated individuals. In response we, the accepting and educated individuals, have to speak louder.
Today's rally sponsored by Colors brings back images of events that took place five years ago. At that time, The Dartmouth Review published a quote from Mein Kampf in its masthead on the eve of Yom Kippur.
In response, 2,500 community members rallied on the Green to voice their objections to racist and intolerant thinking.
Five years later the Dartmouth community must do it again to recognize that intolerance still remains on campus.
Though they seem to be aimed at individual students, these incidents affect the entire community because they create an atmosphere of division and mistrust.
If students are truly committed to the concept of a "Dartmouth Community" every person must speak loudly at today's rally at noon in front of the Parkhurst administration building.
