‘BLATANTLY RACIST’

Black UMass Student Groups Inundated With Racist Emails

One of the messages stereotyped Black people as living “like hoodrats.”

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has spoken out after a number of Black student groups received rude and racist emails in their inboxes. The emails contained offensive language in regards to stereotypes, including saying Black people “live like hoodrats” with “fro hair, big lips, black skin.” “The blatantly racist emails recently sent to Black student organizations at UMass Amherst and other deplorable acts of anti-Black hatred are appalling and disgusting,” UMass President Marty Meehan said in a press release Monday. “While UMass Amherst is still trying to identify the source of these messages, we do know that the messages in no way reflect the true character of the UMass community and we have zero tolerance for such behavior.”

Though the school has officially condemned the racism, the Black Student Union at UMass questioned why it took over a month for officials to publicly say anything after the emails were initially sent. The school has hired a cyber security firm to determine the origin of the messages.