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Looking to refute charges that Howard University students lack political activism, the university's student association led a protest yesterday outside of the downtown offices of The Washington Post.
The Howard University Student Association (HUSA), along with more than 100 students and heads of campus organizations, went to the Post demanding an apology from metro columnist Courtland Milloy, who in recent columns insinuated that Howard students lacked the political activism of past alumni and cared more about homecoming celebrations than social issues affecting the black community.
"We are here today because we strongly disagree with the way in which we are being portrayed by The Washington Post," said HUSA vice president April Harley, speaking to the crowd of students.
The anger of students at yesterday's protesting centered around two columns written by Milloy. The first column was published Oct. 30 after a campus visit by President and First Lady Laura Bush for a conference on Helping America's youth ended with students protesting.
In the column following the protest, Milloy wrote that "Howard is not some hotbed of political activism" and that "the biggest event of the year is homecoming which features two fashion shows, a step show, and lots of hip-hop celebrities...in order to set off a protest at this school you'd have to be politically tone deaf in the extreme, out of touch and flying blind."
Even more offensive to students was their belief that Milloy's column erroneously implied that the real reason students were protesting the Bush visit was because it interfered with "Soul Food Thursday," a weekly event in which the cafeteria serves fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, and collard greens.
Despite a letter writing campaign, in which Milloy received angry letters from students and alumni, the columnist followed up his first column with one published yesterday listing a litany of past events in which the voices of students was absent. "You claim to be upset because I wrote that 'Howard is not a hotbed of political activism,' and you cite the school's legacy of social protest and political activism," Milloy wrote before asking the student body, "But what have you done lately."
Milloy's comments weighed heavily on the minds of protest organizers at yesterdays rally outside of the Post, including Harley who told the crowd that another reason they were gathered was because they were tired of students "being characterized as uncaring baphons who care more about fried chicken and partying" than the issues facing their generation.
Harley also blasted Milloy and others from past generations for being critical of students instead of offering guidance.
"We understand the struggle of our ancestors who were lynched and harassed," Harley said. "We are tired of being told that we aren't doing anything. What happened to the days when the elders pulled the youngsters to the side and told them what they were doing wrong?"
In a letter delivered to the Post yesterday, HUSA also extended an invitation to Milloy asking him to come on campus later this month "and engage in dialogue over our respective complaints concerning each other."
Some at HU Say Apology Won't Fix Damage and That Milloy May Be Right
Though organizers of yesterday's rally said they were pleased with the student body's performance, other members of the Howard community said that the protest was probably in vain because even if Milloy apologized, it would not fix the damage already done to the school's reputation.
"An apology won't take the information away from being out there," Erskin Ritchie, a junior acting major, said. "The damage has already been done." Ritchie when on to say that an apology from Milloy at this point "wouldn't be genuine."
Others, like freshman political science major Brittany Washington, said that there was truth to Milloy's column.
"Even though it came off as offensive, much of the second article is true," Washington said. "Howard is not as politically active as it should be."
Washington also speculated that Milloy may have had an ulterior motive, in which he sought to use his columns seemingly criticizing students, as a ploy to actually motivate them into more activism.
"The man accomplished what he was trying to do. He sparked activism and pissed everyone off," she said. "If that was his goal, I can respect that to a point."
Stewart said that he hopes Milloy will come to campus and explain his views, but adds that yesterday's rally should allow the student body to move on to other pressing issues here on campus.
"Hopefully yesterday will be a closing point to a lot of things because there are definitely some bigger issues that should be addressed," Stewart said in an interview after the protest. "Hopefully we can build off of this moment but this is not the end of our movement. This was only the beginning."
