On Monday morning, May 1^st, American University officials found bananas scrawled with racist messages hanging on nooses from fixtures around the Washington, D.C. campus. Written on the bananas were messages such as: "Harambe" and "AKA Free" - a reference to the first Black woman elected as AU Student Government President, a member of the Lambda Zeta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. 

 

 

The ladies of the Xi Lambda chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated stand by our sister Taylor Dumpson and Black students at American University that have now been the target of two racially motivated attacks this academic year. We stand by our sister's statement in which she wrote this recent incident is: "disheartening and immensely frustrating that we are still dealing with this issue after recent conversations, dialogues, and town halls surrounding race relations on campus.” This is not isolated to American University, as incidents of racial bias occur at Dartmouth as well. We encourage Dartmouth's administration to engage in meaningful dialogue as to how incidents like this will be adjudicated, and we encourage the Dartmouth community's continued dialogue on how we can come together to stand against identity-motivated bias.