A discussion with Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett about Kent State’s Rock

By Sylvia Lorson

The Kent State University campus rock has been around for years. Student organizations have been painting it for different reasons or events that have always been positive or celebratory for as long as it has been on campus. As of recent, it has been used as a tool of racial attacks on the Black student body.

The most recent message written on the rock was “Blacks have no home here,” leaving many students feeling angry, scared and waiting for the university to take action.

Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, a psychology professor at KSU and director of PRADAA (Program for Research on Anxiety Disorders among African Americans, Department of Psychology Kent State University), had similar views on the issue.

Q: How do you feel about the whole situation with the rock? What are your thoughts?

Barnett: I have to say that I am saddened by what is happening with the rock. I am saddened, and a little taken aback by the university’s initial response. I am encouraged by the response in conjunction with BUS and the Undergraduate Student Senate. I think that the first two of BUS’ demands or suggestions are absolutely correct. And that there are actions that the university could take very easily, meaning a flash alert when this type of hate speech appears on campus. And then just the increasing of security. Just because when people are giving this kind of speech, there’s a possibility that they could take some kind of action. And that it’s very clear that given what’s been painted on the rock that many Black students do not feel safe right now on Kent State’s campus.

Q: How do you think it is affecting Black students here?

Barnett: Yes, well, fear is a powerful emotion. And I think that we have students who are fearful because they feel unsafe. Remember that our black students, our black students in particular, have been dealing with overt forms of racism…all summer since the end of May. I don’t think any student expected to come back to campus- or come to campus for the first time- and be met with incidents like this.

So we have fear, which is a powerful emotion. There’s probably some anxiety, ‘what’s going to happen next?’ And…it appears if I’m judging from the tweets and from what…I’m reading in the articles and viewing on the news, it appears that our black students, and some of our white students as well, are angry, but they…aren’t letting that anger eat at them. They are turning that anger into pro-active action.

Q: What action do you think should be taken? Some people suggested installing security cameras or even removing the rock altogether. What are your thoughts on that?

Barnett: I wonder what would happen if we offered a reward for whoever was doing this. I think that simply removing the rock does not remove the racism that is existing or is hidden on campus. What’s on the rock is a symbol of what’s actually within our university. And so, removing the rock doesn’t remove what’s within the university, and it will just show up somewhere else. 

Q: If you could say something to the people that keep writing these racist remarks on the rock, what would you say?

Well, we hate what we don’t know and we hate what we’re afraid of…  And part of this relates to the roots of hate. And we hate what we don’t know. So it’s not just talking about it, it is really understanding for the people who are doing this. It’s really understanding where it is coming from, ‘what is it that makes me feel this way? What do I gain from doing this?’ …So, that’s what we’re talking about. 

Fairly or unfairly…most students don’t know a lot about people who are a race that is different than their own because… of the way this country is situated. They don’t have the opportunity to interact, we don’t have the opportunity to interact with people who are of different race or ethnicity. So all we have to go by is either what we are told, or what we observe, which is often just a… snippet, of what…a different race or ethnicity actually is.

Q: Yeah, I agree. The whole thing has been very upsetting…

Barnett: It’s upsetting, it is frightening, it is all these things that you are saying and…no one is taking the steps to enlighten, to inform, and to take action. And it just doesn’t seem as if that is occurring.  And it may be occurring, it just may be that we’re not being told.