Racist graffiti spotted once more at DVC

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Samantha Laurey

DVC Latino Students Rally Behind Bernie Sanders (Samantha Laurey/The Inquirer).

Emma Hall, Editor in chief
March 26, 2019

DISCLAIMER: The following story features images of racial slurs against African Americans and Middle Eastern immigrants.

Graffiti featuring hateful language against Middle Eastern immigrants and African Americans was found in the Business Language Arts building on Monday, March 25 at 9 p.m. Faculty and the student body were alerted of the vandalism the next day on March 26 through an email from Diablo Valley College President Susan Lamb. According to Lamb, “the College Council approved the formation of a task force to address these incidents and to engage the campus in a broader discussion. This task force will be involved in the immediate response to this recent act while continuing to work on addressing our last incident.”

Susan Lamb sent out this email out to faculty at 1:54 p.m. Lamb later alerted students at 2:38 p.m. (Emma Hall/The Inquirer).

Lamb also states that she will continue to meet with students and staff on addressing issues on campus. She urges the community to contact interim vice president of Student Services, Bruce Clemetson if any word of the incident surfaces.

“I thought that out doing the protest (sic) would let it be known we won’t tolerate this anymore and that no one should be discriminated against based off our their races, religions, or sexual orientation but obviously we have much more work to do,” said DVC student, Terell Patillo, who has been active in spreading awareness against hate on campus. “We’re not going to be silent about it either.”

Students are unsure how to feel, the student leaders involved on March 14’s walkout are concerned with the recent discovery.

“I feel like I should be shocked but I’m not. I don’t really have a word to describe how I feel about it,” said DVC student Kaitlin Dey.

On Tuesday, March 25, Vanessa Galang and the other DVC student leaders had met with Lamb to discuss the student demands that were proposed. According to Galang, more meetings will be set in place to further their case. A push for mandatory anti-racist training for employees is also on the table for discussion amongst the student group and Lamb.

A photocopy of the graffiti that is available to staff and students on behalf of Bruce Clemetson. (Emma Hall/The Inquirer).

Editor’s Note: Senior staff member Samantha Laurey contributed to this article.