Lately, there are so many stories of Black students being humiliated in schools that it's hard to keep up. Whether it's a Yale grad being accosted by police after a white student called them on her for napping in her common room dorm, or Black students being forcefully yanked off the stage at their graduation ceremony, enough is enough.

However, we have the power to demand that Yale and other school campuses end the humiliating and dehumanizing experiences Black students endure every day. A commitment to expelling Sarah Braasch is one step closer to ending racial bias and the frivolous calling of police on Black students that puts Black lives at risk.

Dignity is a human right and corporations, schools, restaurants and business have a responsibility to create a culture where everyone feels safe and welcome. Yale President Peter Salovey must show move past shallow statements and listen to what Black students at Yale want. At Color Of Change, we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to hate, we believe Yale should too. 

Join us in demanding justice today. 

Here is the Petition:

Can Black students just get through the day without being racially profiled by their white peers and police on campus?

Apparently, not in America. In the past few days alone, there have been several disgusting stories of students being racially profiled on school campuses that are too often viewed as just a drop in the bucket of American racism. 

 

But one of the most disturbing incidents is what recently happened to Lolade Siyonbola at Yale. Lolade is a Black Yale University graduate student who woke up to harassment from white student Sarah Braasch, who had called the police on Lolade for napping in the dorm's common room while writing a paper.1 The police harassed Lolade and forced to provide proof that she did, in fact, belong on the Yale campus. She had her residency door key and her student ID and yet still had to deal with police for an entire hour before she was left alone.

This is not the first time that Braasch has called the police on a Black student. Only months before, she called the police on Lolade's friend, another Black graduate student, just for being in the stairwell of their dorm. 

Yale President Peter Salovey has issued a soft statement in response to public pressure, one that fails to acknowledge the real harm being done in Braasch's continued presence. It is not enough to that such events 'disappoint' him², Lolade not only had her dignity compromised, her interaction with police could have proved fatal, as it often does with such monstrously unbalanced anti-Black power structures at play in America.

The culture of wantonly and frivolously risking the lives of Black people who only want to access the same education opportunities as everyone else can and must change. More and more, it is becoming apparent that an intervention is needed when it comes to protecting the dignity of Black students and their racialized peers. Black students deserve to know that they will not be accosted by police or harassed by peers because of racist stereotypes and tropes. We deserve a commitment to Free To Be.

We cannot wait until the next time a Black student’s life or dignity is threatened. Together, we have the power to change the often humiliating experience for Black students to one of dignity and safety. Lolade deserves justice!