Racism is “not a black or white problem, I believe it is a human problem,” NIU Ombudsman Bert Simpson said at a lecture sponsored by the Sigma Chi fraternity Monday at the Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

Simpson spoke on racial awareness to about 75 students, including members of Sigma Chi and other greek chapters. Sigma Chi is on suspension for a “black-face” skit they performed last semester.

The greek community was supposed to be sent a memorandum by University Programing and Activities stating the lecture to be mandatory, Sigma Chi member Brian Maki said. However, he said some of the chapters said they never received the memorandum.

Kevin Meadows, newly-elected president of the Sigma Chi chapter, said the lecture was for the benefit of the entire NIU campus.

“I think it’ll help people understand and be more culturally aware,” he said.

“We (Sigma Chi) are trying to get the NIU community to understand what Sigma Chi has done in the past,” Meadows said. “We (Sigma Chi) are not benefiting ourselves, we are trying to benefit others, too,” he said.

Simpson explained that his lecture was not designed to attack anyone as a race.

“I am not challenging you as white people, I’m challenging you as human beings,” he said. “I have biases, I have prejudices.”

In order to challenge the audience’s “thoughts and feelings,” Simpson posed three questions.

“Is there racism in America? Do you think racism is a problem? Are we all responsible for the resolution of this problem called racism?” he asked.

If the audience answered yes to all three of the questions, then they were open-minded enough to address racism, Simpson said.

One way to deal with the problem of racism, sexism and other “isms” is to have a feeling of empathy, he said. “Tackle the problem by living life with a notion of empathy.” People need to be understood, he said.

Simpson addressed the “real serious myth” of the American melting pot. “Everyone was supposed to come to America” and “be alike” creating “no differences” between the races, he said.

People should be “heterogeneous within themselves, but homogeneous in the way we treat each other,” Simpson said.

The idea of a society without racism, sexism or ageism is “not something we can accomplish,” he said. This type of society “includes the eradication of all social pressures.”

“We must all speak and act against all oppression” and be “advocates for equity,” he said. Students “must become fierce activists for social justice.”

“Brothers of Sigma Chi need to continue to reach out,” Simpson said in a discussion following the lecture.

Although NIU is “thought to be one of the most racist schools, I don’t think Northern is as racist as the press makes it out to be,” he said, adding that the atmosphere on campus “could be better.”

“I think it is in everyone’s best interest” to address the problem of racism, he said. “If we don’t come to grips with problems that separate us we’re going to kill ourselves.”