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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBLM at William and Mary shut down ACLU forum chanting Liberalism is white supremacy
Flat Hat News is the William and Mary student paper.
http://flathatnews.com/2017/10/02/black-lives-matter-protests-american-civil-liberties-union/
Sept. 27, Black Lives Matter protestors at the College of William and Mary interrupted Students and the First Amendment, a scheduled event co-sponsored by AMP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
First Amendment rights have dominated national conversation in recent months, with opposing sides debating the extent to which hate speech counts as free speech. Following the Aug. 11-12 Charlottesville protests, the ACLU voiced a decisive stance on the issue by defending white nationalists right to free speech. The move attracted widespread backlash from ACLU supporters and detractors alike, as well as the Colleges BLM chapter, which responded by staging its Sept. 27 protest.
The ACLU discussion never occurred because protesters took over the stage within five minutes of Executive Director of the ACLU of Virginia Claire Guthrie Gastañagas entrance. Signs in hand, the protesters shouted chants such as liberalism is white supremacy and the revolution will not uphold the constitution.
The most disturbing part of this article is this....
After the cancellation was announced, remaining students clustered around Gastañaga, hoping to ask questions and voice concerns. These students dispersed, however, when the protesters began circling around them, drowning out Gastañaga and chanting with increased volume.
This is not education. This is not how colleges and universities should be. Actually preventing students from having even an essentially private discussion with the speaker? Straight up bullying bullshit.
I noticed most of the students protesting in the picture appear to be white.
JI7
(89,262 posts)and there have been a number of protests where most or even all of them were white.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)It's really frightening to some like me who tends to be anti-authoritarian.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)any passionate activist group that springs up like this is going to draw people from across the political personality spectrum and for sure contain some extremists. Since extremists from both sides are passionately antagonistic to liberals, who strongly dominate the Democratic Party, I sure can't guess from this whether these chanters were lead from the right, far left, or both.
But in any case, what matter is that the movement itself continue and not drive its own members away. Hopefully, capable members of BLM will be able to get control away from extremists. If not, they may just have to organize and continue to fight for social justice under another name. Many groups have survived being swarmed by extremists at times, including the ACLU.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,211 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)think of that, and I usually do. For sure. Lots of little incidents by a few are mischaracterized as big ones by many by trolls. And new trolls are always infiltrating DU, and banned ones returning under new names and IPSs.
I also didn't mention BLM conservatives, but it'd be perfectly natural if some of those were swept into an anti-liberal attack without really intending their demonstration to be about that. Actively resisting it would probably be too much to expect of most in this era.
DFW
(54,436 posts)That went for Kerensky in St. Petersburg, it went for the anti-Shah students in 1979, it went for the Republican Party in 2016, and it goes for BLM. Shutting down an ACLU event by force is so counter-productive to a movement like BLM, I find it downright suspicious that they didn't see that. I have to wonder just how many of these people were really BLM and how many were using their banner in order to make BLM look bad, seeing as how BLM could have no greater natural ally than the ACLU.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)me 2
get the red out
(13,468 posts)Great pic.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,360 posts)From the article:
Still up: https://www.facebook.com/builtonourbacks/videos/1734551936840965/ seems like a genuine page.
yardwork
(61,702 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)That makes about as much sense as tying Thomas Jefferson to the British Monarchy.
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)The ALCU has always held its nose when standing up for free speech in the USA when it was the Nazis doing it. That has been a thorn in the ACLU's side for decades. Charlottesville was not a new policy of theirs. Therefore, no one, including BLM can claim this was the ACLU standing up for white supremacy, any more than the ACLU defending BLM means they stand for black supremacy. The ACLU has always believed in the supremacy of free speech, no matter how distasteful the speech, no matter who is doing the speaking. For anyone to claim the ACLU supports white supremacy is an outright lie so blatant, anyone saying it HAS to know they are lying.
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)ananda
(28,876 posts)I despair for our world.
Hekate
(90,784 posts)In the case of Pelosi they were allegedly DACA and in the case of Huerta they were allegedly Bernie supporters. I utterly doubt their sincerity -- hell, I utterly doubt they are who they say they are at all. This is insane.
Response to RhodeIslandOne (Original post)
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Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)jcmaine72
(1,773 posts)We as liberals and progressives should not be above soul searching. While I would personally prefer such ideas to be expressed in a civil fashion, I definitely agree with the sentiment that it is high time for most white people in this nation (including some liberals) to simply be quiet for once and start listening to African-Americans. There are still far too many white people who immediately get defensive the instant African-Americans begin voicing their concerns and fears and never actually listen to what they're being told.
brooklynite
(94,721 posts)Did their behavior change the opinion (for the better) of anyone at the ACLU event? Did anyone reading about this on a blog somewhere change their point of view?
ProfessorGAC
(65,160 posts). . .and there is telling the choir to shut the hell up. I think this is an example of the latter.
Slapping one's allies is easier, because they're closer. Still seems counterproductive, to me.
Marengo
(3,477 posts)sarisataka
(18,767 posts)With the article, there are very, very few African-Americans among the protestors. Possibly none.
Demsrule86
(68,660 posts)categorically deny what you are saying to have any resemblance to the truth...I hate every word, but I would defend your right to say it with my life.
romanic
(2,841 posts)Didn't you even watch the video? Like 98% of those fools were white. God white guilt is such a mental disease. Smh
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Otherwise they will be 40 years old with nothing, except a couple internet forums to post on so they can "blame it on the man"
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)eShirl
(18,503 posts)Lots of shit-stirring and chaos in the world these days.
Vinca
(50,303 posts)still_one
(92,381 posts)amendment rights, or a way to legitimize the dehumanization of Jews?
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a50906/are-jews-people-was-a-real/
Isn't that what the BLM moving is saying by this protest?
Is allowing the public voicing of racism a way of legitimizing racism, or an expression of first amendment rights?
Seeking Serenity
(2,840 posts)that are (or are seen to be) aligned with "our side" (whatever the hell that really means) can be just as authoritarian and willing to exert dominance or control over others as anyone else? I can see a strain of that mindset from some here in the gun threads.
Authoritarianism in humankind is thousands upon thousands of years old and is ingrained. Enlightenment thinking in terms of individual rights, liberty, and freedom, by comparison, is only a few hundred years old, a mere babe in human thinking.
Left-wing groups can be just as authoritarian as right-wing ones (20th-century history is replete with examples). Liberals (people who believe in individual liberty and freedom) by definition cannot be.
Spy Car
(38 posts)on the left, in the same way we unequivocally (and rightly) oppose anti-liberal populism on the right.
Both variants of populism are antithetical to liberal values.
It is time for liberal Democrats to boldly defend our values.
comradebillyboy
(10,174 posts)rockfordfile
(8,704 posts)It's like the Russian bs is still being used.
DFW
(54,436 posts)ACLU of Texas Facebook Twitter
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yodermon
(6,143 posts)Russian agents or James O'Keefe himself couldn't have scripted a more self-destructive type of protest.
eom
Dr. Strange
(25,923 posts)The problem is, we've seen similar ridiculous behavior from students at Evergreen, etc. I don't think this is indicative of BLM as much as it is indicative of the authoritarian streak that has become hip among some college students.
romanic
(2,841 posts)It seems like it's a combo of radical indoctrination, helicopter parents, a want to be "apart of something" and a lack of maturity/growth from hs to college that leads to student protestors like these.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Oh yes, go after the ACLU, those fuckers. lol
JHB
(37,161 posts)Shrike47
(6,913 posts)kentuck
(111,110 posts)are part of the Russian influence in our politics.
Something is not right.
GoCubsGo
(32,087 posts)It appears they have been co-opted. As for Antifa, I would not be at all surprised if they're just another Russian front group.
yodermon
(6,143 posts)The idea of infiltration/agent-provacateur behavior is just completely foreign to them.
Dr. Strange
(25,923 posts)romanic
(2,841 posts)Stick a fork in it.
Response to RhodeIslandOne (Original post)
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Delphinus
(11,840 posts)very disconcerting. For the most part - or maybe in concept - I support the Black Lives Matter movement, but this, to me, was not well thought out.
mfcorey1
(11,001 posts)Doremus
(7,261 posts)SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Neither of which are protected by the first amendment.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)XRubicon
(2,212 posts)Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)I do agree that the ACLU has fucked up hugely by choosing to defend Nazi's so-called right to free speech. Hate speech and threatening speech are not free speech. And Heather Heyer paid the price for their very bad choice. The ACLU has blood on its hands.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I could not make out one. At the best, these were passionate but misdirected White kids from the left. At the worst, they are righties trying to throw shade on a legitimate movement.