 "Photo: Ivar Vong")
University senior Austin Berry is a big Oregon football fan. He goes to all the games, he cheers on the Ducks and he knows a lot of players on the team. And after attending the Boise State game on Sept. 3, he decided he wanted to do something worth remembering in his last year at the University — so he created a Facebook group.
“I saw the colors (at the Boise State game) and I saw how coordinating colors got the crowd amped,” Berry explained. “I wanted to make a statement and I got the idea to create an event for the USC game on Halloween.”
Berry finally went through with his plan on Oct. 4 after the Ducks beat Washington State. He named the group “Autzen Blackout” with the idea of getting fans to come to the game wearing all-black clothing and literally “black out” the stadium. One thousand members joined within the first day and 5,000 joined in the first week. The group exploded in popularity.
Little did Berry know, he had opened a can of worms full of racially charged subject matter. Within 48 hours of creating the group, the Office of Student Life’s Bias Response Team contacted him, saying the group wasn’t a good idea because of the “racial implications” the event suggested. In the end, they recommended Berry take down the group under the basis that past groups at other schools — most notably Oregon State in 2007 — had also tried a blackout and a few fans had come to the game dressed in afros, painted black faces and gold chains. The BRT said its number one goal is to promote safety and to have a good time, and that something like this could have ruined the purpose of the group.
“I don’t think our students would do that,” Chicora Martin, the Assistant Director of Student Life said on Wednesday. “But some fans don’t make good choices, and we’ve seen examples across the country of poor decisions being made at events like these.”
In a series of e-mails with the Director of Diversity of Education and Support Jason Rodriquez, Berry tried to explain his side of why he created the group and said he never had any intentions of demeaning to blacks. Berry himself was born to a black father and a white mother, and he argued that the BRT wasn’t giving Oregon football fans enough credit.
“I feel like people are smarter than that,” Berry said. “It’s not OK to show up to any game in an afro and blackface. Just because it’s a blackout doesn’t make it acceptable ... that’s just people being stupid, and no one is going to support that.”
Berry also sent links to Rodriquez about other recent blackouts schools had done where nothing negative had occurred. He gave the examples of Louisville, Cincinnati and Georgia, where the athletic departments had signed off on the blackout events and all were considered successful.
The e-mail changed the minds of Rodriquez and Martin, and Berry met with Rodriquez to discuss potential changes he should make to his group to erase any racial undertones. They decided to change the name of the group to “Lights-Out Autzen, Wear Black vs USC on Halloween Night,” and to put in the description to wear “‘black clothing.’” They felt these two things would be enough in assuaging personal feelings.
Rodriquez wanted to be clear that the BRT didn’t force Berry to change the name, it just suggested he should for reasons it considered obvious.
“Austin has been great,” Rodriquez said. “We support the student. We just try to be helpful and give advice.”
“After that face-to-face meeting, Jason has been nothing but helpful,” Berry added. “He’s been 100 percent on my side.”
Now with the initial issue under control, Berry has been busy promoting his group in preparation for the 5 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.
On Wednesday, he did a TV interview with KMTR, and The Register-Guard ran a front-page story on the “lights out” and selling of spirit t-shirts. There has also been an Oregonian blog post, a radio interview on 95.5 The Game in Portland and another TV spot on Fox 12 in Portland.
“I wanted people in the nation to know that Autzen is the real deal,” Berry said. “And it’s not the color that’s the real deal, it’s the event.”
Slideshow from the Prefontaine Classic
8 comments
Austin, I dont't care what color you wear or paint, USC Red and Gold is going to WIN! UO is going to LOSE!! Did you hear? I said UO is going to LOSE!!! TROJANS are FOREVER!!!
Great show Grand Son! Congratulations on success of your "Lights Out"!
fact of the day: they are definately annoying