Black Doll Appears In Canisius College

Black students at the Canisius College in New York now live in fear for being racially abused following the discovery of a black doll hanged on campus.

BUFFALO, N.Y.– Students of Canisius College reached out to 2 On Your Side to notify us of a black doll that was found hung from rope inside a Frisch Hall elevator, WGRZ reports.

Students later say the black doll was taken out of the elevator, only to surface later as a meme online.

ohn J. Hurley, President of Canisius College responded saying in a letter to students, “We will hold responsible whoever perpetuated this despicable act that goes against everything for which Canisius College Stands. I cannot condemn this strongly enough. This cannot and will not be tolerated on the Canisius campus.“

Students notified the news station, and said that the black doll was later taken out of the elevator, only for an image of it to later resurface as a meme online that read, “Trump Fans…Hanging Babies Since 2016,” The Root stated.

A black student-athlete told the TV station he was considering leaving the campus, saying he’d experienced similar racist bullying since enrolling at Canisius, where 71.9 percent of students are white and 6.9 percent are black, reported by Raw Story.

The college president said Canisius would investigate the incident and punish anyone responsible for the “stupid act.

Several students told the TV station they feared racial harassment would grow worse with the election of Trump as president.

About 90 miles away, in Wellsville, New York, residents painted over swastika graffiti found on a baseball dugout in town.

Black students on edge after black doll hung in effigy at New York college https://t.co/lQcymCvZ35 pic.twitter.com/Nm18r99Ldk

— Raw Story (@RawStory) November 10, 2016

A man walking his dog Wednesday spotted the swastika painted on the cinder block structure at Quackenbush Field, along with the words, “Make America white again,” reported The Daily Reporter.

The man called the newspaper to report the graffiti, but police said they had not received any complaints but would investigate, anyway.

The police chief said charges would not be filed unless a complaint were made, because the ball field was private property.

“We’ll take a look at it, we might do a log entry,” said Tim O’Grady, the village police chief. “Unless somebody makes a complaint, we don’t have any cause for action. It’s vandalism, we’ll look into it.”

Swastika graffiti, including the words, “Sieg heil 2016,” was also spotted on a building Wednesday in Philadelphia.

A black male athlete at the college, who asked to remain anonymous, told reporters that he is thinking about leaving the college, as this isn’t the first racial incident he has encountered since enrolling at the school, according to Inquisitir.

He went on to say that now Trump has become the 45th president of the United States, he believes the issue is only going to get worse.

A black doll has been found hanged in an elevator at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.: https://t.co/HCksqcbgKS pic.twitter.com/CmFoK5zq6q

— The Root (@TheRoot) November 10, 2016

In a Facebook post, Kelly Haynes disagree with what is being reported, saying, “This is ridiculous – there is no noose around this doll. This is a Bitty Baby from American Girl and like all dolls from AG (as I or anyone who has worked there can tell you), the head is connected to the rest of the body by a string, which is what you see in the picture. I am disappointed in the actions of many Americans in the last 24-48 hours because of this election, especially those spreading false information.”

Haynes went on to say that she “would never condone a hate crime, but finding a doll in an elevator is not a hate crime; don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.”

Stephanie Fois on Facebook agreed, adding that the string people are calling a noose just may be a string that “holds that doll’s head onto the rest of its body (it looks like a Bitty Baby’ from American Girl – I had one growing up and her head fell off once, it was horrifying, but I digress.)”

Fois went on to say that she hopes the black doll found hanging in an elevator at Canisius College is a case of misunderstanding, adding, “If it is not, then this is terribly tragic.”

The issue of racism has risen long before the U.S. presidential elections, so the people who  perpetrate acts like this only hide under the cover of Donald Trump’s ideas. There should be a thorough investigation into the matter and all the culprits should face punitive measures. Mocking African-American students by hanging Black dolls on campus is unacceptable and people doing so should once and forever learn that only they bear the responsibility for what happened.