As I reminisce on the events during Sankofa 2024, I remember vividly the amazement of Atlanta. Sankofa is an experience hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The goal of Sankofa is to look at history and improve it. The sense of belonging I felt, the showcasing of black inventions and the exposed mistreatment of black people throughout history. Leaders, activists and regular citizens who were contumacious towards a system of oppression left messages worth digesting. Returning to Atlanta’s teachings, we must ask why we can’t report anything at NCC. By understanding Atlanta’s teachings, we can also develop new ways of rewriting the narrative for underrepresented communities at NCC.
Civil rights movement leaders encouraged us to speak out against injustices, but as I returned to NCC, I felt the urgency vanish. Instantly, the focus was shifted back to academia and grading scales. In a previous conversation within our Social Change class, we discussed how we don’t feel comfortable reporting anything here. This prompts a question that we need to ask our community. Why don’t we report anything at NCC?
A classmate and I discussed the Bias Incident Reporting Tool, or the B.I.R.T. After a handful of traumatizing incidents, neither of us used it. Considering the B.I.R.T is made for people traumatized, why would individuals not report traumatizing incidents at NCC?
Hesitations on reporting
I don’t think the B.I.R.T is bad; I just know it’s inaccessible. There’s no B.I.R.T for reporting a coworker who made you uncomfortable in downtown Naperville, nor the store employee who asked you what you were doing there in the chip aisle while you were scanning for something to eat.
Reporting can also become an arduous task when you’re reporting the person down the street who called you a slur, or even reporting one of the seven drivers who nearly hit your leg on purpose off of Chicago Avenue.
The reality is that without those instances, because of cultural stigmas and a sense of not wanting to repeat trauma, my classmate would never report anything. It makes sense because who truly wants to be the victim anymore?
All of this bias is ‘normal’ for us in America. Especially when ethnic groups are addressed as criminal immigrants, asylum seekers or aliens by the ‘native’ people. However, the stigmatizing of groups should not be normal, and we all cannot allow it to continue to be normal. For some reason, because of the ‘snitch mentality’, we are hesitant to counter systems of injustice.
Looking at history
I asked Professor Sean Kim Butorac of the Political Science Department about any connection there might have been between ‘snitch mentality’ and slavery. Here is his response:
“Loyalty and intraracial solidarity were integral to enslaved life, particularly for those engaged in everyday or widescale acts of resistance, which required absolute secrecy.”
Butorac continued, “In many cases, an enslaved person’s silence, even in the face of draconian violence and torture, could mean the difference between life and death for themselves and others. As Peter Poyas, a free Black man accused of leading the Vesey Uprising declared before his execution, ‘Do not open your lips! Be silent, as you shall see me do.’”
When talking about today, Butorac said, “The ‘open secret’ of anti-Black violence has created a culture of complicity and silence, particularly among white people. Today, a ’code of silence’ is similarly integral to policing and police unions, insulating racial violence and other forms of misconduct from investigation and meaningful consequences.”
“As to ‘why this needs to change,’ I don’t think it’s quite that simple. For some groups, this ‘mentality,’ as you put it, is integral to their survival and capacity to resist injustice and domination. For others, as the case of policing demonstrates, it is a means for sustaining those very structures. In this respect, it’s a question of the role that ‘snitching’ plays in either challenging or sustaining injustice,” said Butorac.
Butorac brings up a great point—does this snitch mentality challenge or sustain injustice? Judging from the classmate struggling with trauma, it only seems to maintain it. If this snitch mentality only sustains injustice, it must disappear here at NCC.
Where do we go now?
Cortney Matuszak, the new Title IX Coordinator promotes the idea expressed in our student handbook that “North Central College holds high standards of behavior for students.”
Additionally, the staff at Dyson Wellness Center do a great job at unpacking the effects of continuous microaggressions and replacing the snitch mentality.
Furthermore, the efforts of the B.I.R.T team and their gradual work in eliminating reporting stigmas deserves more appreciation. Instead of asking why students can’t report anything at NCC, they look at how they can encourage reporting. While meeting with many of the coordinators, you can tell there is a push for social change, but social change is a community investment.
As united leaders, let’s change the normal narrative from why we can’t report at NCC to how much we report. Let’s also take that with us, wherever we may end up after. To start a Report, use this link or contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs to build a connection with staff. The same staff that was responsible for the Sankofa 2024 experience.
What is a Bias Incident Report?
“It’s not punitive, it’s an educational experience for all parties,” said Eric Armstrong, Assistant Dean for Equity and Inclusion.
It’s important to understand that it’s not meant to punish any individual, it’s more about education, since we all carry biases. Many different criteria also qualify as bias incidents. Age, color, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, religion, disability, citizenship, marital status, military status, veteran status, national origin, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnant/parenting status, genetic information, socioeconomic status, order of protection status, etc. The committee reviews everything and will address any issue equitably, as that is their job.
Meyani Montano, Assistant Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs commented that “when in doubt, still fill out a report.”
As Atlanta native Dr. King, one of our past speakers on campus asserted, we cannot return to what’s normal. Instead, we, in unison, must rewrite the narrative for marginalized communities across NCC. This will help ultimately break stigmas regarding reporting. As Dr. King reminds us: “normalcy: never again.”
