Thirty people arranged in a circle sat around as a noticeable silence filled the Willkie Quad Auditorium.
Discussion participants looked down at their feet and the ground as they waited for someone to broach the subject of police shooting of black Americans.
Eventually the silence was broken and students and faculty expressed their hopelessness, frustration and feelings of being forgotten.
Tuesday’s event was part of a three-part community dialogue series facilitated by Residential Programs and Services.
The series is designed to bring together students and faculty to discuss the recent trend in shootings.
The first part of the series took place Monday, and the third will take place Wednesday.
“It was very powerful not to talk but to listen,” Victoria Cheng said. “There is always room to do better.”
Cheng said it is important to recognize that this is not an issue just at IU but at campuses across the country.
There were significant pauses and silent moments throughout the discourse, but the group hit on key arguments throughout the discussion.
Big topics that came up were understanding where to start the dialogue, having conversations with friends and family and how these events affect students at IU on campus.
One perspective that emerged from the discussion was the lack of support and dialogue among IU students. One attendee called attention to the fact that the group of about 30 students and staff was small.
“I felt unsupported by peers coming in here,” he said. “I was late. I came at 7:02 and thought, ‘Wow, there’s hardly anyone here.’ The people here are already those I know. It’s unacceptable that this is a community discussion.”
The discussion picked up when people began discussing their own stories of identity and how it related to the way they talked about the issue at hand. Talking about how their families and friends treated them in relation to the violence was also a key topic.
“It is easier to talk to my friends because they are people of color,” one participant said. “It is hard to talk to someone who is my oppressor. It becomes a debate. Can you just listen?”
Evident throughout the discussion were confusion, frustration and a sense of not knowing how best to support others.
These areas of confusion were part of the reason why RPS decided to offer the space to have this discussion.
Members of the resident life diversity committee within RPS guided the group discussion. Lloyd Graham, assistant director of diversity initiatives for RPS, was at the event and offered insight during the discussion.
Graham said he and the RPS diversity initiatives committee met last Friday and discussed the best ways to approach this topic with residents.
While they considered having a vigil, the committee thought an open discussion would be a better method to acknowledge the situation.
“We wanted to provide it as something if you needed it,” Graham said. “We will still be here to support you. We wanted to try something that hopefully spoke to validation, connectedness and all of those different pieces.”
