By CASSIE SLANA
Reporter
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) —

The first event kicking off Unity Week on Monday, Feb. 15 was a viewing of the satire, “Dear White People” in the Union Cinema.

The movie, directed by Justin Simien, follows the lives of African-American students at Winchester University and how their lives clash with those of their white peers. Following the viewing, members of a panel answered questions from the audience that addressed issues of racism and discrimination.

“I agree, the radio show (featured as an output of racist qualities during the film) was kind of toxic, but you need something like that to bring issues forward,” said Ashley Gerrard, junior economics major and panel member.

“The white male American in the ages of 20 to 40 are the most prized and privileged in the entire country,” said Daniel Gilmore, freshman psychology major. “As an African-American male, it’s really frustrating because of the stigmas. Regardless, you have to really stand out to be a deviation from the stigma. You no longer look at the world as a place of opportunity, but you look at the black person next to you as competition.”

For Ebonea Turner, junior child and family development major, she had similar feelings.

“We [have to change who we are for society] on a daily basis, [white people] don’t experience that,” Turner said.

The climax of the film came near the end when a white fraternity hosted a party with a black face theme, leading to intervention from the campus’ black community and a brawl.

(There’s also) more micro issues like interracial relationships,” Gerrard said. “It’s not just parties.”

The movie was derived from real-life incidents, such as the “Mexican-Themed” sorority party that took place in Penn State’s sorority, Chi Omega, in late 2012.

“(I remember) a student organization on this campus had a James Earl Ray day party in 2006 and they had fried chicken, watermelon, and other very racist stereotypes,” said Heather Mynatt, idea and issues coordinator for Spotlight and a senior communication studies major. “It does happen, and it happened here at UCM.”

Unity Week ends today with the panel discussion titled, “Guess Whose Straight,” at 7 p.m. in the Elliott Student Union 240.

“You can’t really tiptoe around the subjects that I have to talk about on a daily basis,” said Brianna Nesbitt, diversity education graduate student and Unity Week coordinator. “If there are people that want to use the term African-American instead of black, more power to them. If there are black students that want to use the term African American instead of black, great. You’ve got to own your words, own your feelings, and just be genuine about it.”