“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
I could not believe my eyes to read articles on UiTM’s statement defending students who wore white sheets with cut out eyes over pointy hats and holding crosses mimicking the hateful supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan as part of an assignment/cosplay/study on racism, discrimination, malice and deep seated hatred for people of colour in the United States stemming in the early 1900s throughout the decades – wrecking havoc to peace and unity.
The defense was done in bad taste, and in justifying it had exposed that the varsity, in the name of critical thinking, allowed the KKK’s blueprint and modus-operandi of bigoted beliefs, superiority and supremacy, torture methods like hanging, flogging, mutilations and even cross-burnings that remains one of the darkest periods in American history, make its way to its campus reenacted by its students.
A university, universitas in Latin, meaning “a whole” carries the spirit of knowledge, learning, and with that discernment and wisdom – encompassing values of universality, and in this case the universality of human rights and its nemesis – racism, discrimination, injustice, prejudice and hate.
Learning about what the Ku Klux Klan did to people of colour in America, especially African-Americans should be a sound reminder that racism, hate and distrust which go hand in hand is a certain recipe to fragment and destroy a society and must never ever be revived, in any other version in any other society anywhere in the world without highlighting the untiring work of men and women in the crusade for equality and non-discrimination.
Hence, my burning question to UiTM is this – Why wasn’t racism explored from the lens of freedom fighters Martin Luther King who adhered to Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence which became the corner stone for his civil rights movement all over America to campaign to eliminate racial injustice? Martin Luther King led the Great March on Washington in 1963 which brought together more than 200,000 Americans from all walks of life to witness one of the most famous speeches in American history – “ I Have a Dream” that called for equality and freedom and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. Or perhaps Rosa Parks, also fondly known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” by her fearless and daring act in refusing to move to the back of the bus which was reserved for black folks as the bus started to fill up with white passengers. She stubbornly sat in the front, unwilling to move. She was beaten, charged and jailed but also more significantly led the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted 381 days and resulted in the US Supreme Court declaring the Montgomery bus segregation unconstitutional and issued a court order to integrate buses. The boycott ended the next day.
These are two gems in the story of the fight against racism in America whose heroism have been carried through the ages and remains a stark reminder that the fight must continue against injustices anywhere.
The Ku Klux Klan showed the immoral behaviour of men, who in their conquest for power, manipulated religion, law and conscience in the name of safeguarding the American identity – and yes, while we have to know the whats and the whys of what they did and what governed that school of thought, it must be balanced by the human stories of strength, valour and fortitude of defenders of human rights and social justice.
Rather than using the excuse of studying about racism through the white veil of the KKK on their barbarity and racism, UiTM should have placed the spotlight on the indomitable spirit, perseverance, resistance, endurance and the peaceful civil rights movement of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks to fight for equality, justice and fairness for all.
There is no place for the glorification of the Ku Klux Klan in the name of dissecting the heart of racism when instead the prime focus should be on the sacrifices of men and women who valiantly looked racism in the eye and denied it by their actions.
As a university that is placed at 587 in the QS World University Rankings 2025, and having more than 180,000 students, UiTM must step up and do better.
Kasthuri Patto
DAP Secretary for International Affairs
DAP Women Vice Chairperson
