Aurora Magazine 2018

eyes would see our nooses. No, her post didn’t mean that there would be black bodies hanging from trees at every glance, but these have been the times. The post meant that the ver- bal war would start. The insults would start. The emboldened harassment would start. The denial would start. No institution administrator here on this campus, or her campus mentioned this girl’s viral post. This post simply meant the silence would continue. Today, I walk through a silent campus as I hang my loud Black Student Association flyers around for our second Umoja Series event on neutrality. This campus has a knack for remaining silent about things…about everything. I walked through the basement of Le Fer posting a noisy flyer in each door way. I ran through the event itinerary in my mind: “A. Introduction, B. Discussion about sense of action, C. “What Would You Do” game, D. “People of Color, You Are Not Op- pressed” video…” This event seems so…loud. Let’s be honest, who wants to address the fears of hanging black bodies, or racist dormmates, or a racist president? No one? Who wants to talk about me or any other black students on this campus who hate it here because all they hear when they walk around is silence, while the pain inside them is screaming? It’s funny; as a freshman I thought this place would be home. I smirk as I tape up a flyer in the South elevator. In some ways, the familiarity of it feels like home. Yet, living in Terre Haute makes it feel like there’s no place that I am truly heard, welcome, wanted, or important. It’s funny because the 30 J O H N S O N