The black students at University of Missouri, nicknamed “Mizzou” have put out the documentary Concerned Student 1950 which gives an inside look behind the anti-racial protests that occurred at the school last year.

In September 2015, the Missouri Students Association President Payton Head wrote on Facebook about an incident he experienced on campus when a group of white people in a pickup truck yelled racial slurs at him. “I really just want to know why my simple existence is such a threat to society,” he said. “For those of you who wonder why I’m always talking about the importance of inclusion and respect, it’s because I’ve experienced moments like this multiple times at this university, making me not feel included here.”

Last fall, the president of Mizzou Tim Wolfe resigned after he was unable to properly handle the racial tensions that has arised on campus. Shortly after his resignation, black students on campus began to receive violent threats both on campus and on social media.

Concerned Student 1950 was made by Mizzou students Adam Dietrich, Varun Bajaj and Kellan Hayley Marvin. Take a look at the documentary below.

(Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

Author

  • Travis Henry is a senior at Rutgers University studying Communication, with a concentration in Strategic Public Relations and Public Communication, and French. Currently, he is looking at the relationship between consumer brands and African-American youth and how the Black-white racial segregation has manifested online. When he is not doing research at school or writing at work, he finds himself “curating the human experience” via his magazine DWNTWN and editing his school’s magazine Voice. He sees himself in the future finding a career that hybrids music, activism, media, and writing.