University students troubled by President-elect Donald Trump’s historic victory on Tuesday gathered to discuss how to move forward as a community.
The forum, called “The Unapologetic Conversation,” was hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs in the African American Cultural Center Thursday. Student leaders of campus organizations like the Black Student Union, the NAACP at LSU and the Black Artist Initiative moderated the discourse.
The dialogue involved small group discussion, a question and answer portion and a talk from Professor Roland Mitchell from the School of Education.
Organizers held the event as a continuation of Thursday’s student rally, allowing participants to vent in a safe space and plan and strategize for the future. Students expressed their personal reactions to the election and talked about how to participate in positive political discourse.
“There’s a price to being a person of color on this campus,” Mitchell said. “One of the strategies I think we have to do is figure out how to get beyond our own individual identities and build coalitions with others who aren’t just like us.”
People need to educate themselves on the issues, Mitchell said, and consider how to affect change beyond protesting.
Mass communication senior Jonathan Brown said the tension following the election is what shocked him, and the command Trump has over his following is what scares him.
“LSU is not the LSU I’ve known. They had less tension Sunday morning after the Bama loss, and that’s disgusting to me,” Brown said. “Politics came on my campus. Racism came on my campus. Fear came on my campus yesterday.”
Reaching out to build a bridge with those holding conflicting political views is essential in coming to a place of understanding, Mitchell said. He urged attendees not to demonize Trump supporters.
“Don’t demonize them just because you don’t agree with them,” he said.
English literature Ph.D. student Mary Pappalardo said that post-election, she thinks Trump’s administration will immediately resolve to contradict the platform Trump built his campaign on. His success was the result of his ability to mobilize voters who felt unheard, she said.
“I think he is a reprehensible human. The scariest thing is very quickly it’s going to start sanitizing and start looking like politics as usual – and people are going to forget what he mobilized and authorized to get there,” Pappalardo said. “I think what that allows to happen is for equally insidious but more subtly insidious policies are going to be put in place.”
Office of Multicultural Affairs Director Andrea Grant said the ultimate goal of bringing students together was to build community, learn and grow from one another and take time to heal.
“I think at this time we’re looking at each other, we’re not hearing each other,” she said. “We’re not a monolithic group by any means. We’re not processing this the same way, so we want to be respectful of each other’s’ ideas and beliefs within this space.”
LSU students discuss election reactions in open forum
November 10, 2016
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