It’s time to move the discussion about race on this campus forward. It can’t happen

We need your help.

This student body, this society, is uncomfortable when it comes to race. We don’t like to talk about it, and when we do, the discussion is heated and emotional. We’re afraid it’ll be awkward. We’re afraid we’ll say the wrong thing. We’re afraid of the reaction.

And that’s the problem.

The only way to create a productive discussion is to approach it maturely, openly and with the best intentions. We, as an editorial board, cannot do it alone. We’d be foolish and pretentious to think so.

That’s where you come in. You need to get involved in this. Only once everyone sees the problems our society has with race can we begin to move forward. It’s hard, we know. There’s already so much going on, especially now toward the end of the year. In between research projects and finals week, applying for internships and hunting for jobs, we’re asking you to help end racism and prejudice on this campus.

We do this because it affects everyone. The discussion started after Beth Rankin wrote a column about her experiences with Black United Students. The response was much bigger than we expected. Whether you disagree with her column isn’t the point any more; people are finally talking openly about race, and we can’t let it die off.

It’s bigger than Beth Rankin. It’s bigger than the Daily Kent Stater. It’s bigger than Black United Students. It’s about every person on this campus. Everyone needs to speak.

Talk to us. Talk to BUS. Talk to the KSU-NAACP. Talk to PRIDE!Kent. Talk to the new Undergraduate Student Government. Talk to a professor you trust. Talk to the university. Talk to your friends and parents. We need to get everyone talking.

The semester will end in just a few weeks. It would be too easy to let this go and head home for summer. It’d be a nice three-month break. But that won’t help anyone. If nothing more happens this semester, we must be sure to continue with it during the summer and fall. We can’t have progress when we allow the status quo to exist.

In meetings with our editors and other student media leaders, we’ve come up with some ideas. We could hold another public meeting sponsored by Student Media and invite everyone who wants to come. The one BUS held was a good start, but that can’t be it. If you don’t like that idea, give us another one.

We’re open to suggestions.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.