A disturbing rash of race and gender related incidents has hit Ithaca over the past two weeks. A group of young white men allegedly sexually harassed and hurled racially charged epithets at four female African-American and Latina students at D.P. Dough on Sept. 18. In the Ithaca City School District, white students allegedly harassed 12-year-old Epiphany Kearney in a similarly bias-related incident. The child’s mother is now pursuing legal action against the Ithaca School District after the ICSD chose to ignore the situation.

Race relations at Cornell remain strained. The memory of Nathan Poffenbarger ’08, who stabbed a visiting black student, still lurks in the background of discussions about race, as does the controversy surrounding racially-themed fraternity parties last year.

A rise in racial strife and racially motivated harassment in the City of Ithaca and on The Hill has occurred. It seems more and more apparent that speaking out against racism and urging community members and University officials to do the same is nothing more than a repeated, tired cry in a never-ending battle against injustice.

From Jena, La. to Don Imus’ former WCBS studio, America’s ugly racist past hasn’t disappeared.

But repeatedly, it seems that American racism seems inextricably linked to a pernicious, racially motivated form of sexism.

Imus called the Rutgers women “nappy-headed hoes.”

The owner of D.P. Dough, Ed Rieth, told a Sun editor, “The males accused the females of being ‘ignorant hos.’”

“How,” Rieth wanted to know, “is that racist?”

The idea that the word “ho,” an abbreviation of “whore,” is not racially charged could perhaps only be held by someone willfully blinding themselves to the situation.

Black Students United president Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo ’08 called on President David J. Skorton in an e-mail to speak out against racial inequality in Ithaca and at Cornell. We urge other groups such as Students Advocating Gender Equality, the Cornell Democrats and the Student Assembly to echo the BSU’s fight against injustice.

Racism and sexism aren’t “black” issues and they’re not “women’s issues.” They’re human issues. They affect the whole community, not just segments of it. This isn’t about black and white: It’s about right and wrong.