Members of the Afrikan Residents Association held a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 2 demanding that the Housing and Residential Services staff be held accountable for the sluggish progress in disciplining those accused of committing hate crimes against three black residents last month in Mary Park Hall.

The conference was the culmination of nearly a month of tension that has seen accusations, counter-accusations and threats that threaten to tear the residential community apart.

But even as university officials scramble to allay the fears of threatened residents, they are still at a loss to explain exactly what happened or who was responsible.

According to freshman Aminat Nicol, on Sept. 8 three female residents of Mary Park Hall, who were dubbed the “triple threat” by one of their fathers, left a watermelon in front of her door. After reporting the incident to her resident assistant, she said the girls received a “verbal admonishment.”

“The perpetrators of this racist and offensive act continue to live in the dorm. Since this incident, however, I have been subjected to daily intimidation by the offending parties,” Nicol said in a statement she read during the press conference.

“When I complained of this situation to university authorities, I was asked if I want to leave the dorm. It appears that the administrators of this institution are willing to tolerate acts of racism, placing the burden not on the perpetrators but on those to whom the acts are directed,” she said.

But according to Director of Residential Life DJ Morales, since the initial incident, the whole situation has been “fraught with misinformation.”

“I’m the one who bought the damned thing. That’s how the watermelon came into the community," Morales said.

She said that the watermelon was one of many food items purchased for a picnic and was among a bunch of leftover food.

The “triple threat” kind of adopted the watermelon and treated it like their baby. They decorated the fruit with Sharpie-designed pictures and their aformentioned title. After a while, the watermelon got cracked and began to rot so one of the three girls set it outside her door while she cleaned the juice off of her bed, Morales said.

“She put the watermelon outside of her door and when she came back, it was gone,” Morales said.

What exactly happened after that is unclear, but Morales said that the watermelon was passed around and left outside of various rooms before ending up outside of Nicol’s room.

She said that when she heard of the incident she was upset and assumed that it was racial incident until she had a meeting with the girls and realized that they were unaware how the watermelon ended up in front of Nicol’s door, and didn’t understand why it was being considered a hate crime.

“They were totally clueless,” Morales said, “If you don’t know why this is offensive to somebody, why would you do this to somebody?”

The SF State Department of Public Safety defines a hate crime as being “Any act of intimidation, harassment, physical force directed against any person or family, or their property or advocate, motivated either in whole or in part by hostility to their ethnicity, race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability or political/religious beliefs with the intention of causing fear or intimidation or to deter the free exercise or enjoyment of any rights or privileges secure by the Constitution, the laws of the United States or the State of California.”

Watermelons have held a negative connotation in relation to blacks since the days of the “coon caricature.”

The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, located on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., describes the coon caricature as being born during American slavery. The Web site displays cartoons of blacks with exaggerated features engaging in stereotypical activities often associated with blacks such as eating watermelon.

Morales said that after meeting with the girls and Nicol, they apologized and things in the dorms were quiet.

“For that period of time, things were okay,” Morales said.

But on Sept. 16, someone wrote “Nigg” on the wall outside of Brandi Park’s door. A note with the same words was slipped under the door of freshman Leah Miller’s room the same day.

“And so they assumed that the women I had initially brought up were responsible,” Morales said.

Miller said she does not feel safe because someone had to be watching her in order to slip the note under her door while she was not there.

“I had been in my room all day long. I left maybe for an hour. When I got back to my room, the paper was there,” Miller said.

While investigating the “Nigg” incidents were being investigated by the SF State Police, Morales said the person who had actually left the watermelon outside of Nicol’s door came forward to let her know that she had done it accidentally and with no mal intent.

According to her, a girl who had recently moved into the residence halls, found the watermelon while doing laundry early one morning and decided to put it in front of her friend’s door as a joke. Being new to the residence halls, she apparently was not quite sure which room was her friend’s and left it outside of Nicol’s door by mistake. After realizing the misunderstanding caused by the mistake, she confided in Morales that she was the one who left the watermelon in front of the door.

On Sept. 23, Morales met with the Residence Hall Association to discuss the ongoing turmoil.

“One of the main frustrations (of the black residents) was they felt like nothing was being done,” Morales said.

But Morales said that she and many campus administrators have been tirelessly working to resolve the issue since it arose. The SF State Police are actively investigating the last two incidents and they have even brought in a handwriting expert to take writing samples. Also, President Robert Corrigan is updated regularly on how the situation is being handled.

Still, to most students present at the press conference, the recent incidents in the dorms were both surprising and upsetting.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that they are trying to remove these ladies who haven’t done anything,” said student Maya Sinley.

Although most were in agreement that the incidents should not be tolerated, there were varying viewpoints on the way that the situation should be handled.

A student who wanted to be referred to only as Violet was visibly irritated by the situation.

“This campus has a history of racism. I don’t think we can appeal to the administration,” she said. “We need to take this in our own hands, even if we have to make it so these girls don’t want to set foot on this campus.”

Deneen Jones of the Homeless Prenatal Program had a different idea about how to deal with the incidents.

"The difference between us and other races is they make other people accountable. What we need to do is take the anger and make them accountable for their actions,” Jones said.

Immediately following the press conference, a member of the “triple threat” was approached in her room by a group of black students and non-students and threatened by one of them.

“One man, who identified himself as not attending the university, came up to her in her face and said ‘I want you to know, if anything happens to those three sistas, I’m gonna fuck you up,'” Morales said. “Now I’m getting calls from parents asking me, ‘What are you going to do to keep my kid safe?’”

All three members of the “triple threat” have since been moved from the residence halls to an undisclosed location for their safety.

“There is nothing racial involved in this at all,” said a threatened member, who asked that her name not be used.

As far as the note and the writing on the wall, she said “I don’t like being accused of something I didn’t do.”

The topic was so heavy on everyone’s minds that it found its way into a number of discussions and programs throughout the day.

Reverend Jesse Jackson’s visit was clearly the most anticipated event of the day, but even it couldn’t escape the controversy.

“In a speech preceding Rev. Jackson’s appearance, ASI President Natalie Batista mentioned the racial incidents affecting SF State’s residential community.

“We are being bombarded with actors and hate crimes and porn stars,” Batista said while discussing issues that pertained to the election that took place Tuesday.

“I see people scared to stay in their dorm rooms. Reverend Jesse Jackson knows of such issues and will address them today,” Batista said.

And indeed he did. After his speech, Rev. Jackson briefly spoke in Malcolm X Plaza.

“Fight racism wherever it manifests itself,” he said. "If there is a case of racism on your campus, protest. Fight back. March.”

“Strong minds break strong chains,” said Rev. Jackson, “Don’t let them steal your joy.”

Morales agreed. She is in the process of setting up a consciousness-raising educational program.

“There is a tremendous lack of information about the cultural hot buttons,” Morales said.

Former ASI President Ronda Newt-Scott shared her interesting take on the issue during the press conference, stating that if blacks are okay with listening to music where racial epithets are thrown around then they have no right to be upset.

“Don’t throw your fist up in no solidarity and you’re bobbing your head to a song with nigga this and nigga that in it,” she said, “If you are a person of color and you hear that music, you should be offended.”

Morales said that at one of the meetings on the issue a black student made the comment, “What if we’re wrong? You know how we like to joke with each other. What if it was one of us? What happens then?”

If that is the case, she said, it is highly unlikely that what really happened will ever be uncovered.

“At this point, whoever did it, they can never come forward now,” Morales said. But there are no plans to stop aggressively pursuing the perpetrators of the last two incidents.

“If it was somebody who did this maliciously they need to be held accountable,” She said.

The investigation for who wrote the offensive word is still being actively pursued.