Pioneer LogLewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

African Warrior posters are found to be “hate and bias motivated incident”

April 23, 2010

by Angela Webber

Adrian Guerrero (’12) was shocked when he got an email telling him he had been found responsible for violating Lewis & Clark’s disruptive behavior, hate and bias motivated incident, and harassment policies. Guerrero, who hung anonymous posters at the end of January, entered the conduct system when Campus Safety wrote an incident report about the posters. 

Guerrero’s posters had an offensive and inflammatory effect on the student population, though most students did not see them. In total, 27 posters were posted and most were taken down immediately. 

As Guerrero told the Piolog in February, his intent was not to offend, but to start a conversation about institutionalized racism at LC, as well as to comment on posters advertising for the Lu’au’s Haka dance. Guerrero thought the call to “become a Maori warrior” illustrated a history of the United States “portraying people of other cultures for entertainment.” Guerrero’s posters were not explained, though, and their use of blackface, as well as other critiques of offensive events in American history of racism, were not understood. 

“In the real world, I am paranoid. I am paranoid about my race… but at Lewis & Clark, I feel safe,” said Temesghen Habte (’12).  “That safety was taken away from me when I saw those posters.”

Shortly after Guerrero’s posters were discovered, Dean of Students Celestino Limas sent an email to the student body entitled, “Disturbing incident from yesterday.” Limas described the posters as follows: “These flyers included a blackface image, a racist term, and all of them included references to the date of Malcolm X’s assassination and ‘40 acres and a mule.’ Simply put, these were derogatory, beyond inappropriate, and were removed immediately.”

“The way in which messages are sent can be hurtful, and without knowing the context, we’re still hurt,” said Associate Dean of Students and Director of Multicultural Affairs Latricia Brand, who spoke with students who saw the posters and felt intimidated, and held a forum for students of color after the incident.

“You can intellectualize it, and you can explain each individual piece. But the fact is that he offended people,” said Habte. 

At least 20 students of color, and not just black students, that I have talked to were hurt and offended.”

At the time, Limas told the PioLog that “punishment is premature” as an outcome if the author of the posters were discovered. “The first thing would be to have a conversation,” he said.

After Guerrero voluntarily met with Limas, he had a conduct hearing with Brand. “Tricia seemed to understand what I did and why I did it,” said Guerrero. But at the end of the week he learned that the school had found him guilty. “I thought I had made it pretty clear that I wasn’t motivated by racism,” Guerrero said. 

Brand and Associate Dean of Students Jeffrey Feld-Gore are restricted from talking about specific cases due to confidentiality issues, but explained the policy more generally. “Clearly we have not had what we would consider to be a ‘hate incident’ on the campus,” said Brand. “[For that,] there has to be a clear understanding of the target, and that the target was intimidated at such a high level, that it would make the safety of that individual or group be threatened in their community. When that kind of experience is not present, but there is still clear understanding that there was harassment, or that individuals may have felt harassed or intimidated, that’s usually when the bias piece becomes the default.”

“I think that the appearance of bias, without having clear understanding of the intent, is something that the code at least can be interpreted to include,” said Brand.

“It’s a living document,” said Feld-Gore, who said that the policy was explained to him by Brand.

Guerrero was given “outcomes” to be completed for breaking the policies.  He was required to write letters of apology to the Hawaii club and the person who created the “Maori warrior” posters, and he did so. He was also required to host a campus-wide program that addressed issues of cultural norms and ideologies, complete 25 hours of service to traditionally underrepresented communities at LC, and write a two-page reflection on the experience.

“This was pretty insulting to me,” said Guerrero. “It’s taking something I love to do and turning it into therapy or punishment.” Guerrero is an active community organizer and works with STAND and other groups to plan events focused around issues of race. “I don’t know what I was supposed to learn from those.”

From the whole experience, Guerrero said, “I’ve learned to explain things better so people in power don’t f*** it up.”

The problem facing Guerrero now, according to him, is that his record demonstrates that he has been found responsible for violating LC’s “hate and bias motivated incident” policy. Guerrero attempted to appeal the first decision, but was unclear on the procedure, and his appeal was rejected after a meeting with Feld-Gore. “I’m now in the position where I can’t have another appeal, though I feel the procedures were botched in the first place.”

“Recently, I’ve been offered that opportunity to scrub it from my record without changing the record,” said Guerrero, but he has rejected this option, saying it would amount to “admitting that I’m wrong and motivated by hate and bias.”

Guerrero said that revealing his identity and intent in last week’s PioLog was motivated partially by an attempt to get support. “Working with the administration has gotten me nowhere,” he said. He has heard from faculty members, who have reached out to support him, and says his next step is to speak with interim President Jane Atkinson, who is reportedly looking into the case. 

His letter to the editor in last week’s Pioneer Log, however, has caused some to feel as though some important discussion has been lost. 

“The letter to the editor was insensitive. It was asking for sympathy from the same community that he hurt and offended, without apologizing first,” said Habte.

“Seeing the letter to the editor relieved speculation [about who made the posters], but there were some students who came to me and said they felt re-injured, as it felt as if Adrian’s point of view… was overshadowing the initial feeling and impact,” said Brand. “For those who either saw the posters personally or learned about the posters and had conversations about them, a sense of vulnerability and concern and fear was created. And that conversation is being lost.”

“If we’re an academic community that can’t make people feel uncomfortable, we are no longer an academic community,” said Guerrero. “I am very sorry to anyone who was intimidated or offended; that was not my intent. I apologize for any harm caused.” 

“It’s ok to talk about race, but you have to do it in a socially responsible way,” said Habte.

Guerrero said he had written a letter of apology to the student body and sent it to some administrators, but it was not distributed. Brand said she did not know why the letter was not distributed, and Feld-Gore had no comment.

When asked what he would do if he could go back and do it again, Guerrero said he would, “but with more explanation.” Would he put his name on the posters? “Yes. But there’s nothing wrong with being anonymous. In fact, I think there’s something noble about it.”