Students “blackout” for Mizzou

Students held a “Blackout” rally on campus Monday to promote solidarity with the students of the University of Missouri after racist displays on the campus gained national attention.

Communication disorders sophomore Sabrina Imanke, political science sophomore Ifrah Asmat, business sophomore Samar Taqvi and biology freshman Saira Badar coordinated the demonstration.

Badar is from Missouri, and her sister attends the University of Missouri. She said she noticed there were Mizzou solidarity rallies happening at other campuses nationwide and decided there should be something held at UH.

“Fighting prejudice is something I’m really passionate about, so when I heard there were all these rallies happening… (so) we decided to do (one) ourselves,” Badar said.

The students at Mizzou often complained about systemic racism and sexism on campus this fall with no response by administration. After a series of public displays of racism on the Mizzou campus, and a failure of president Tim Wolfe to acknowledge such events, protests erupted calling for Wolfe to resign.

Wolfe eventually resigned after Mizzou’s football player got involved in the movement.

Following the resignation, students at other campuses have held rallies and blackout events like the one that was held Monday.

Imanke noted the importance of having a rally on campus that unites students of all backgrounds.

“UH has one the most diverse college populations in Texas, and so it’s great to see people coming out to show support,” Imanke said.

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