About 200 people packed the Chesterfield Smith Room in the Fredric G. Levin College of Law on Tuesday for the Student Senate meeting to discuss the blackface incident at UF last week.
Several students spoke during the public comment section to express their feelings regarding a picture of two Beta Theta Pi brothers who wore blackface makeup at a “rock stars and rappers” themed social last week.
Blackface was often used in 19th century theater productions to caricaturize black people. It is seen by many as an offensive practice today.
At the meeting, Nailah Summers, who is listed on the Department of Student Activities and Involvement’s website as president of the Dream Defenders, spoke against the act and those people who said it was not offensive.
“We have every right to be upset with the people condoning this behavior,” she said. “You have no concept of our history, and if you did, you would not be telling us to calm down and get over it.”
Sen. Trimaine Sheffield said he felt a sense of commitment to the students who came to the meeting to speak about the incident.
“If you have a connection to the black community, based off skin color or sense of identification, I stand here as a representative for you,” he said.
Justin Hosbey, the first vice president of the Black Graduate Student Organization, said that regardless of whether people were offended, it was a racist incident. Hosbey and the second vice president of the organization, Justin Dunnavant, said they had five recommendations that they hope to see accomplished at the university. One of these recommendations was an official statement describing the event and the university’s response to it. They also requested a formal apology from the students who wore the blackface, a cultural competency training program for all Greek organizations, cultural competency training as part of the general undergraduate education curriculum and an addendum to the university code of conduct to define blackface as hate speech.
Student Body Vice President Sabine Justilien said black students attending UF are looked upon as a “commodity.” In leadership and academia, they are often viewed as numbers instead of judged by the quality of their characters, Justilien said.
After the meeting, Senate President Christina Bonarrigo said the Senate Executive Committee will discuss the five points that were brought up and discuss how to move forward.
Student Body President Tj Villamil said he was disappointed by the two brothers. He said he wants to start an educational series about what blackface is and black history.
“At the end of the day, I really hope we are all orange and blue,” he said after the meeting.
The public is invited to a Town Hall meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Rion Ballroom.
Thursday’s Town Hall will enable conversation between students and administration about the issue, Justilien said.
“Now we have their attention,” she said.
Both Vice President for Student Affairs Dave Kratzer and UF President Bernie Machen have addressed the incident in letters to students.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
Nailah Summers, a 24-year-old philosophy senior, speaks about the repercussions of last week’s blackface incident at the Senate meeting Tuesday night in the Holland Law Center at the Levin College of Law.
