Just under a dozen posters with an anonymous poem titled “White Walls” detailing racism at SIU were distributed throughout the communications building on the last day of school. They were still up on Saturday.

The poem reads:

“Is it a sin to have brown skin?

Am I not worth your time because your pigment is lighter than mine?

Why can’t you feel empathy with the pain I’ve felt?

You only ask questions to cover your own self.

You tell me my writing is poor.

My education background must be low.

But you don’t realize you’re just the new Jim Crow.

You insult my parents and harass my worth.

Ironically, I rub it off since I’ve been dealing with this since birth.

You don’t fucking care, you say “tough shit.”

But you felt that from the start, c’mon just admit:

That your standards were lowered, your temperament grew.

And it’s all because I don’t look like you.

You laughed at my work, said it was a joke.

But then try to pursue me with, “I’m white and I’m woke”

I tried to ask for help, to stop this behavior from going any further.

But the response I always got were, “sorry they’re on tenure.”

But the sad truth is justice will likely never be Met.

I feel for you, it must suck to be filled with this hate I bet. 

But tell me the truth, in your own eyes

Is it a sin to have brown skin?

Have you experienced this as a student here?”

The posters were on the Daily Egyptian’s door, bathroom doors, bulletin boards and a faculty display case in the Radio, Television and Digital Media department.

Editor-in-Chief Kallie Cox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @KallieECox.

To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

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