Letter: Homelessness is not an appropriate costume

TO THE EDITOR:

To the member of Kappa Delta that dressed as a homeless person for a party:

Not even 40 feet outside of your sorority, there are people experiencing homelessness on Franklin Street.

Do you see them? Do you understand that they are victims of a racist and classist social structure that systematically oppresses them, and that by making a joke out of their situations, you’re perpetuating that oppression?

A sign you held said, “Will twerk 4 topperz.” We are disgusted.

To the KD members who didn’t wear the costumes, but were present at the party:

Your silence is complicity, and it equally perpetuates the structure that keeps people homeless.

The events at KD are not isolated (i.e., The incarceration-themed party, “Kappa Kops,” held by Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Sigma Phi at Duke on Feb. 17). How is it that students can make it through four years of higher education without realizing the gravity and reality of homelessness, institutional racism and white supremacy?

These costumes and parties normalize and obscure a system that disproportionately targets and brutalizes low-income communities and communities of color.

The very systems that oppress people experiencing homelessness allow you to frivolously have fun on a Saturday night in your manicured house, surrounded by your comfort, money and whiteness. Take a moment to think about the immense privilege you have — you left the party, you went home and you left your “homelessness” as a bundle of clothes on the floor.

Regan Buchanan

Junior

Geography and global studies

Lauren Eaves

Sophomore

Biology

Campus Y Co-Presidents-elect