Marivell Caba has never been personally attacked because of her sexual orientation.
But the Undergraduate Students Association Council Cultural Affairs commissioner, who considers herself an ally to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, said what happens to one person, happens to everyone.
Caba, along with other student speakers, was featured as part of Tuesday’s rally in Kerckhoff Art Gallery called “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m ‘____.’”
Speakers opened by completing the phrase with a word of their choice, and students were asked to write on a large canvas banner how they would fill in the blank. The banner is scheduled to be displayed at all events during Campus Safety Awareness Week, which is hosted by USAC.
“We’re having this event because it will educate students on campus safety. With the rally, we’ll bring various students to speak on how their identities shape their lives and how it influences them,” said Carlos Saucedo, a USAC general representative.
During her speech, Caba reflected on how she felt the sting of hate indirectly when her sister and a friend were attacked at a different campus last summer. She said her sister and her friend, who is gay, were walking home when they were approached by a group of students who called them “dykes” and then attacked them, leaving them with black eyes and bruises.
The attackers did not know their sexual orientations during the attack, but Caba said she believes they made assumptions based on the appearance of her sister’s friend.
Caba said she does not believe police took the incident seriously enough. She estimates that it took police a week to get in contact with her family in spite of the severity of the attack.
Another speaker, Christine Corrales, a fourth-year anthropology student, spoke on hate against different races.
The Samahang Pilipino president said one of her first experiences of hate occurred at an early age when a white peer intimidated her and told her to “shut up.”
“My teacher did nothing about it and neither did my fellow peers. I learned that it was acceptable for a white boy to tell a brown girl to shut up. I learned that what a white boy has to say must be higher in value compared to what a brown girl has to say,” Corrales said.
Though Corrales admits that it may not have been because of her race, she says the situation resonates with her because she felt attacked.
She challenged students to think about why hate still exists and to question the gender and racial privileges that she claimed still exist.
“Some students don’t know what hate crimes are, or who does hate crimes. There aren’t that many high statistics of hate crimes on campus, ... (but the) fact of the matter is that not many students report hate crimes because they don’t know what it consists of or who to report it to,” Saucedo said, adding that the event is meant to educate students on hate crimes that affect students.
USAC Internal Vice President Gregory Cendana encouraged students to learn more about each other.
“We can be better allies to different communities and have better understanding of people of different identities,” Cendana said.