#RacistBruin Group Protests UCLA’s Failure to Address Racism, Sexual Violence, and Corporatization
LOS ANGELES — Last Monday, an anonymous group of students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) took their protest into the latest edition of the Daily Bruin, or at least what resembled the school newspaper.
LOS ANGELES — Last Monday, an anonymous group of students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) took their protest into the latest edition of the Daily Bruin, or at least what resembled the school newspaper.
On newsracks across campus, large stickers resembling the paper’s front page, titled the Racist Bruin, called out school administrators for neglecting to address systemic racism, sexual violence, and corporatization of the university, among other issues.
Protest actions like this echo the strategies of the Situationist International, who sought to subvert the built environment by appropriating dominant culture and media, and culture jamming groups like the Yes Men, who pose as official spokespersons in order to bring attention to corporate and government crime.
Anonymous artist groups like the Guerrilla Girls have also produced posters, billboards, and other media to call attention to racism and sexism within the art world. Such aestheticized forms of protest often draw attention through humor but ultimately seek to introduce discourses that are otherwise not being covered in the public sphere.
Two editions of the sticker were found on the UCLA campus, both featuring a “womynifesto” outlining the objectives of anonymous student activists:
This document is a response to pervasive bigotry, discrimination, and attacks on minoritized students, faculty, and campus workers … We write the Racist Bruin to open an honest conversation and portray what students and workers are subjected to when the university facilitates racism, sexism, and the corporatization of our university.
An article in the mock newspaper refers to school administrators’ failure to take action against a history professor who sexually harassed two graduate students. The students filed a lawsuit against the university back in June and claimed officials had urged them to not pursue formal investigations.
Another article calls attention to rising tuition and bloated administrative salaries that have done little to mitigate the diminishing quality of education and resources across the UC system. State governor Jerry Brown announced a two-year freeze on tuition hikes in May, but the freeze only applies to in-state students and may actually create greater disparities in the amount of funding that UC schools receive, favoring campuses like UC Berkleley and UCLA which enroll greater numbers of wealthy and white students.
The Racist Bruin also claims solidarity with students outside of the United States, referring to hashtags #UStired2 and #RhodesMustFall in support of disappeared student activists of Ayotzinapa, Mexico, and decolonizing efforts by students against Eurocentric symbols and curriculums in South African universities.
A Tumblr blog run by the creators of the Racist Bruin addressed public response to last Monday’s action by encouraging supporters to hold actions of their own, “[F]eel free to carry out your own actions that share in the spirit and values of the Racist Bruin. You can use the label Racist Bruin if you want to. We don’t feel ownership of discussions about oppression at UCLA… P.S. To all the white boys tearing down Racist Bruin stickers. You mad? You look real mad. #racistbruin”
