New Instagram Page Reveals Racism at BloomU

Sarah Erie, Co-Editor

Police confrontations, rebel flags, microaggression; these are experiences shared by a new Instagram page, BlackatBloom, a “safe space” for Black students to report acts of racism at BloomU, anonymously. The page, created and managed by an unidentified BloomU student, was designed to “start more conversations about racism and make people more aware of their actions (unconscious and conscious).”

Having made their first post within the last 24 hours, BlackatBloom has already had countless racist experiences sent in and posted to the page. The BlackatBloom creator said they made the page “so POC’s know that they are not alone, and so that their non-black peers can try to understand what it is like for their POC peers.”

One post read, “Being Black at Bloom means walking home from the bar and passing white guys sitting on a porch telling me and my friends we need to go inside before ICE comes.” Another post reads, “Being Black at Bloom is walking home at night alone as a black woman and having a group of white men scream the hard-R-N-Word at you repeatedly.”

This comes after President Hanna sent out an email regarding the Black community and the universities role in supporting them. Hanna’s email states, “To BU students, parents, colleagues, and alumni of color, particularly Black members of our community: regardless of any discrimination I endured, I cannot put myself in your place, but I share your outrage.”

However, some students were not impressed by the message. A post on BlackatBloom says, “Frustrating af when there was no significant progress made after the protest. The school just patted itself on the back and moved on.”