Flyers found on a college campus in California are drawing strong reactions from some students.
Earlier this week, flyers stating “It’s okay to be white” were found on the American River College Campus in Carmichael, just outside of Sacramento.
Some students are calling them racist.
“I think it’s okay to be any color,” Louie Frutos said.
Some think they’re harmless.
“It doesn’t really both me,” Cristian Espinoza said.
Others just think the message is divisive.
“It’s a lot of us versus them,” Zoe Halliday said. “We’re definitely not a unified country right now on many different levels.”
Staff members spotted some people taping the signs up on three different campus buildings around 1 a.m. Thursday. College officials acted fast to take them down just a few hours after they went up.
Joshua Moon-Johnson, the dean of student services, says the school is taking the flyers seriously. Similar flyers have been showing up on campuses across the country in recent years.
“It has often come from campuses that are actively advocating for racial justice and inclusion of people of different racial background,” Moon-Johnson said. “It has been linked to neo-nazi and KKK groups as well.”
The flyers fall under free speech, but Moon-Johnson says they are not welcome on campus.
“Even though something might be protected under free speech it can still have a lasting impact on students and can be really hurtful and go against the values of (our) college,” he said.
