NEWS
Racism prompts professor to return to Canada
For her family, Professor
makes plans to leave Elon
University, Burlington area
Oliver Fischer
Contributor
@fjscherwithc
Robin Attas, assistant professor of music,
will be leaving Elon University and moving
back to Canada with her husband, Nicolas
Narvaez Soza, and their two children. Narvaez
Soza said he has endured acts of racism since
the couple moved to North Carolina in 2013.
“I noticed that I was treated differently like
at the post office or the pharmacy or even the
grocery store,” Narvaez Soza said. “I was lining
up at the post office [... ] when it was my turn,
the attitude changed completely. They became
less respectful.”
Attas met Narvaez Soza in Nicaragua,
when she was traveling there between her
masters and Ph.D. Narvaez Soza followed her
to Canada in 2008 and gained dual-citizen
ship status in 2013, just before they left for the
United States.
“Elon seemed like a good fit in terms of what
I was looking for professionally,” Attas said.
When the couple bought a home in Burl
ington at the end of their first year, the racist
attitudes were not instantly apparent.
“In the beginning, I was in denial,” Narvaez
Soza said. “I wasn’t sure what was going on. I
thought maybe they were just having a bad day.
I started realizing it must be something else.”
The fact that Narvaez Soza wasn’t be
ing treated with respect became clear to him
during a shopping trip to his favorite store in
mid-2015, Lowes Home Improvement. He
could not remember the name of a random
item and asked another shopper for help.
“I asked somebody, I tried to describe it,”
Narvaez Soza said. “He told me I need to ieam
English if I want to find stuff. That was hard
because that was my favorite store, and all of a
sudden, I was uncomfortable going there, and
then I just felt embarrassed.”
Attas said these behaviors have become reg
ular occurrences.
“Those little things have been happening
since we moved here,” Attas said.
Small incidents such as these are easy to
dismiss. At the beginning, the family wasn’t en
tirely sure what was going on. But when these
small events turned into acts of physical aggres
sion, Attas no longer doubted these were acts
of racism.
“He told me how he was standing on the
front lawn with our two children and a pick-up
truck drove by, and somebody threw a bottle
out of the window and yelled ‘ff^’^ing Mexican
go home’ and then tore off^’ Attas said.
A week later, the same situation happened
at a playground. Narvaez Soza believes that the
last presidential election played a significant
role in the attitudes of people.
The turning point came when Narvaez Soza
was pulled over for the third time by a police
officer in Greensboro. The officer claimed he
had not been wearing his seat belt, even though
he was. When he reached for his documents in
the back seat, Narvaez Soza said the officer be
came tense and grabbed toward his gun.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve seen stuff hap
pening on TV like policemen not being patient
or just shooting people,”’ Narvaez Soza said. “I
felt very scared.”
Following this incident, the family decided
to put Burlington and the United States be
hind them.
“It’s life or death at this point,” Attas said.
“It’s clear that it’s not just a mental health issue
or my husband feeling uncomfortable living
here or a cultural difference.”
The family has decided to move to Winni
peg, Canada, so Attas can be close to her par
ents and her husband can feel safe again.
“For me at least, at that point, I was pretty
much done with North Carolina and I think
honestly the United States,” Attas said. “It’s so
sad in a way, because I know that the entire
country is not like here, and I know so many
wonderful Americans, but this experience
tainted everything.”
Attas may be leaving behind Elon and her
music career, but she believes that Elon can
still help fight these hateful attitudes in the
surrounding community and on its own cam
pus. She referred to the incident a few days
after the election when a student wrote “Bye,
Bye Latinos, Hasta Lavista,” in a classroom
and said the university acted swiftly to handle
the situation properly.
But she said the surrounding area of Burl
ington may not have the same mindset.
“That’s great, but that’s Elon,” Attas said.
“And then all around it, the same attitudes
are existing.”
Though Attas said that Elon only has limit
ed control over the outside communities, she
thinks that students may not know the atmo
sphere outside of campus.
“I’ve had experiences where Elon staff
have told me in my teaching that I should not
take students to particular areas because they
were not safe,” Attas said. “There is certain
ly a level of protection of students that hap
pens at Elon, and sometimes I wonder if that
protection is going too far and if it’s leaning
more toward fear.”
According to Attas, more interaction be
tween the campus and the surrounding com
munity would go a long way in creating a more
inclusive environment.
She noted that many of the school’s students
come from affluent backgrounds. In January,
the New York Times supported this when it
found that the median Elon family income is
more than $200,000. Because of this, she said
it may be hard for the majority of the student
population to change their mindset.
“It is still a white rich campus at the heart of
it and that impacts faculty who are not white
and rich,” Attas said. “It impacts students who
are not white and rich, and you see the univer
sity struggling with that.”
“Changing the campus culture, changing
the kind of student that comes to Elon, is a real
ly hard nut to crack.”
As Attas prepares to leave Elon and start a
new life with her family in Canada, she leaves
behind a hopeful message for Elon students.
“It’s fear that holds everybody back from do
ing things,” Attas said. “The people who yelled
at my husband are afraid, and it’s stupid. We’re
all human beings.”
“Don’t be afraid and challenge yourself and
don’t give in to the hate.”
IT'S LIFE OR DEATH ATTHIS POINT. IT’S CLEAR THAT
IT’S NOT JUST A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE OR MY
HUSBAND REELING UNCOMEORTABLE LIVING HERE
OR A CULTURAL DIFEERENCE.
ROBIN AHAS
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MUSIC
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