Students at the Johns Hopkins University are engaged in a bruising debate on race, and much of that war of words is taking place on Facebook, the online social network not usually known for its political content.
A campus fraternity set off the debate by using Facebook to publicize a “Halloween in the ‘Hood” party, which described Baltimore as “the HIV pit” and urged partygoers to dress in “regional clothing from our locale” like “bling bling ice ice, grills” and “hoochie hoops,” according to The Baltimore Sun. Because of that language — and because of a prop at the party that featured a skeleton dangling from a rope noose — the university’s Black Student Union objected. Campus officials decided to suspend the fraternity, pending an investigation of the event.
In the past, a few of the fraternity’s defenders might have protested the decision or attended a meeting of the Black Student Union. But with Facebook at their fingertips, they’ve adopted a different strategy: using the social network to complain, loudly.
About 400 people have joined a Facebook group called “That Halloween Party Was SO NOT Racist,” and they’ve fired some strong polemic at the Black Student Union — arguing that the group (and not the students who appeared to laugh at HIV and lynchings) is racist.
Members of the Black Student Union have pointed out that no one from the Facebook group bothered to attend a forum on the incident held recently. And some students who joined the group told the Sun that they were just upset enough to post on Facebook, but not outraged enough to do anything else about the matter. Perhaps Facebook has helped some students consider the incident and express their opinions on it, but it seems hard to argue that the site has done much to improve the campus discourse on racial issues. —Brock Read
