<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1592243089116.jpeg" alt=" University of Kansas students and alumni protest in Lawrence following the death of George Floyd in police custody. Nomin Ujiyediin / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> University of Kansas students and alumni protest in Lawrence following the death of George Floyd in police custody. Nomin Ujiyediin / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHAN BISAHA <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/blackatkstate-continues-kansas-history-student-protests">Kansas News Service</a>The testimonials from black people about their experience on Kansas 
college campuses ring both familiar and fresh as protests against racism
 continue across the world.Some talk about death threats riddled
 with racial slurs tucked in their mailboxes, about baseless 
confrontations with campus police, or about being told in ways both 
subtle and explicit that they don’t belong.Some students in 
Lawrence and Manhattan have continued a long history of rallying on 
campus and in the streets. But with most students isolated from each 
other by the coronavirus and summer break, they’ve taken their 
protesting online using hashtags like #BlackAtKState.That’s 
allowed more students and alumni far from campus to share their stories.
 The posts have caught the attention of school leadership. Kansas State 
University officials say the school’s listening and will take action.“It’s been powerful and painful,” said Thomas Lane, K-State's vice president for student life, “and, frankly, heartbreaking.”<h2>#BlackAtKState</h2>At
 the start of the month, K-State’s Black Student Union called for black 
students and alumni to share racist incidents they experienced on campus
 using the hashtag #BlackAtKState. It was modeled on a similar movement 
from University of Missouri students.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1592243161735.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Within a day, the hashtag started trending. Students and alumni wrote about incidents like <a href="https://twitter.com/zanaiyap/status/1268195789723099137" target="_blank">police being called on them</a> seemingly with no justification. One alumni recalled constantly being <a href="https://twitter.com/Lil_chocodrop/status/1268197881846038529" target="_blank">avoided</a> in classes. Others spoke about <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahWeekes5/status/1268167437494751232" target="_blank">fearing for their safety</a>. Many recalled a <a href="https://www.kcur.org/community/2017-05-08/k-state-investigating-after-noose-hung-from-campus-tree" target="_blank">noose hung from a campus tree</a> in 2017. A KU student also shared their stories with the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackAtKU&amp;src=typed_query" target="_blank">#BlackAtKU</a> hashtag.Kansas
 State University President Richard Myers responded to the hashtag in a 
video on Twitter, and said the school “will use these posts to prepare 
action steps to end racism at K-State.”“I am listening and I hear you,” said Myers, “and acknowledge these experiences were hurtful and painful.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1592243191907.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Many of the replies to Myers’ tweet were negative, expressing 
skepticism of any change until the school announced concrete actions. 
Black students said past talks and panels on racism haven’t led to 
change and said they’d <a href="https://twitter.com/AyanaBelk/status/1269693036784693248" target="_blank">refuse to participate in more</a> rather than be used as props.Tomeka Robinson, an associate professor of rhetoric at Hofstra University, said that’s “an absolutely valid critique.”“If
 there’s nothing that is behind it, that shows that it’s more than just 
an exercise to make ourselves feel good, then, yeah, I get it why 
students are upset,” Robinson said.<h2>Rallying Online</h2>Robinson said the protests against the Vietnam War, like <a href="http://kuhistory.ku.edu/articles/prelude-disorder">t</a><a href="https://kuhistory.ku.edu/articles/prelude-disorder" target="_blank">hose at KU</a>,
 and the civil rights movements in the 1960s are often what Americans 
think of when it comes to student protests. But student protests have 
been around as long as universities.“Students have been involved
 since the very beginning of the university system in engaging in 
organization and calling for action,” Robinson said.Social media
 became a large part of protesting in the 2010s, though it was mostly 
being used for mobilizing and organizing on-the-ground protests, such as
 the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/25/eight-years-after-egypts-revolution-heres-what-weve-learned-about-social-media-and-protest/" target="_blank">Arab Spring</a>
 revolts against oppressive regimes in the Middle East. But the 
#BlackAtKState hashtag protests didn’t support any in-person rally.Civil
 discourse experts warn that protesting online makes it easier to 
artificially inflate the apparent size of a grassroot movement, referred
 to as astroturfing.But they say social media demonstrations 
come with some advantages, including being a safer option during a 
pandemic. Alumni living far from campus also get to participate and show
 students they’re not alone in their experiences.Whether 
in-person or online, experts say protests are about drawing attention. 
While the internet has a wider reach, tweets can easily be ignored — or 
muted. Physical rallies are harder to ignore.That’s why Zyrie 
Berry-Hendricks, a recent KU graduate, uses a private Facebook group to 
organize in-person anti-racism protests in northeast Kansas. While he 
values hashtags like #BlackAtKState, he believes the ease of posting on 
social media makes it that much more powerful when protesters make the 
effort to show up in person.“Anybody can post ‘Black Lives 
Matter’ on Facebook,” Berry-Hendricks said. “But to be physically in a 
space, to say this is an issue I care about enough to inhabit space … is
 a totally different thing.”On Monday, Berry-Hendricks organized
 a protest in Lawrence outside the house of KU men’s basketball coach 
Bill Self. The protestors wanted the attention of those at KU holding 
decision-making power. Berry-Hendricks wants university policymakers to 
be in the room for discussions about racism on campus.Timothy 
Shaffer, the director of K-State's Institute for Civic Discourse and 
Democracy, said the real change happens at those discussions, after the 
demonstrations. But that only works if they’re well informed, 
potentially by the type experiences students share using the hashtag 
#BlackAt-KState.“The idea of protest as an end-all, be-all is 
really a thin notion of how to deal with our collective problems,” 
Shaffer said. “The ability to move into … a more discussion-based or 
discursive way of being with one another is really important.”Stephan Bisaha reports on education and young adult life for KMUW and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/stevebisaha?lang=en" target="_blank">@stevebisaha</a>.

#BlackAtKState continues Kansas history of student protests