Wednesday afternoon students from South Eugene High School and the University of Oregon marched together to Kesey Square in peaceful protest of the election results. But that evening, three young people were spotted on campus dressed in black face.
On her way home from a Black Student Union meeting Wednesday evening, University of Oregon student Zoie Gilpin ran into three people dressed in black face. Gilpin recorded a video of the encounter, which has since been retweeted over 3,000 times. UO Interim Vice President of Student Life Kevin Marbury says the way Gilpin and her peers responded was admirable.
“I think they handled it the way it should have been handled,” Marbury says, “A little bit of a discourse, conversation that went on and then, recognizing that the conversation wasn’t going to end in anything positive, they ended the conversation and went on their way.”
In a letter to campus, Marbury referred to the use of black face as “patently offensive” and reinforcing of historically racist stereotypes. The identity of the individuals is unknown. They are believed to be high school age and not associated with the UO.
Marbury says the University has a long history of activism and is proud of how maturely students have been expressing their thoughts and feelings about the election.
