It’s all a survival strategy, I know. Every reminder, every “just ignore it” and “work harder” is but a strategy to survive, whether in sixth grade classrooms, on the streets of New York, or at Harvard.

But let us be reminded that human dignity cannot be earned by respectability politics. An Ivy League diploma or a six-figure paying job doesn’t come with equality on the side. It won’t protect us from all the screams and threats and silent humiliations.

And it shouldn’t.

We shouldn’t be considered more human because of what school we went to or where we work. And we shouldn’t be deemed any less deserving of life when we are in our hoodies, when we don’t shave, when we aren’t twisting and shrinking and shushing ourselves to be respectable.

While I am glad that people are outraged by the hate crime against HLS professors, I wonder if we are able to extend that rage, that kick in the gut feeling to individuals who don’t fit the dominant notions of respectability. I wonder if we will think twice before guessing there is a good reason the boy in the hoodie, that street vendor, the bearded man have bullets in their bodies. I wonder, when we let go of the degrees and wealth we’ve accumulated to shield ourselves from hate and discrimination, how much more of others’ pain we can feel, and feel as our own.

So, now what? Now and ever, the black tape will not vanish when we work harder and climb higher. It will not vanish when we ignore that visceral kick in our stomachs, when we keep our heads down and eyes on the next prize. But I think, when we rip off the invisible tape that silences our bodies and minds into being respectable, the black tape will begin to tear, too.

Alice Hu '18, a joint Government and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations concentrator, lives in Winthrop House.