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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
University of Mississippi opens student conduct probe after | |
confrontation between Black student and counterprotesters | |
By Sara Smart, Dianne Gallagher, Sarah Dewberry and Denise Royal, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:56 PM EDT, Sat May 4, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct | |
investigation after actions of “hostility and racist overtones” | |
were portrayed during a demonstration on campus. | |
The incident unfolded Thursday on the school’s campus during a heated | |
exchange between a group of pro-Palestinian protesters and a much | |
larger group of counterprotesters. | |
About 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating in a | |
barricaded zone when they were surrounded by an estimated 200� | |
counterprotesters, some holding American flags, several Trump flags and | |
some dressed in red, white, and blue. | |
While there are multiple videos circulating online showing the protest | |
at varying times, one video in particular shows a group of mostly young | |
white men in the counterprotest yelling at a Black woman, at least | |
one counterprotester is seen on video making what appears to be monkey | |
gestures at the woman, although CNN has not confirmed that is the | |
case, as she records the group on her phone. | |
Jaylin R. Smith, 24, confirmed to CNN she is the woman seen in the | |
video. | |
“One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making | |
monkey noises at me,” the journalism and new media graduate student | |
told CNN on Friday. | |
The video viewed by CNN shows a large group of counterprotesters | |
yelling at Smith as she walks toward them while holding her phone. Law | |
enforcement appeared to be telling her to “go back” to where other | |
pro-Palestinian protesters were rallying. Smith is heard in the video | |
saying, “I’m not so peaceful” repeatedly as police usher her away | |
from the counterprotesters. | |
CNN has been unable to identify any of the counterprotesters seen in | |
the video. | |
A letter from Chancellor Glenn F. Boyce says university officials are | |
“aware that some statements made were offensive, hurtful and | |
unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist | |
overtones” and that at least one student conduct investigation has | |
been opened. | |
The Chancellor noted that the university is determining if any | |
additional investigations are necessary. | |
US Representative Mike Collins, a Republican representing parts of | |
Georgia, shared the viral video on X saying, “Ole Miss taking care | |
of business.” CNN has reached out to Collins’ office. | |
The NAACP sent a letter to congressional leadership Saturday asking for | |
an investigation into Collins’ conduct. “These actions conducted by | |
a member of the House of Representatives, regardless of intent, | |
legitimize and propagate racism and undermine the principles of | |
equality and justice that our government is sworn to uphold,” the | |
letter shared exclusively with CNN says in part. | |
Smith said at the protest, Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were kept in | |
an enclosure, which police said was for their safety. She told CNN she | |
briefly stepped out of the enclosure to go live on social media, and | |
that was when the confrontation took place. | |
“I said some insults back, too. I cursed like a sailor at them, and I | |
regret letting them get to me like that,” Smith said. | |
“The monkey gestures – and people calling me fat or Lizzo – | |
didn’t hurt my feelings, because I know what I am. I am so confident | |
in my Blackness. I am so confident in my size, in the way that I wear | |
my hair, and who I am. They do not bother me. If anything, I felt pity | |
for them for how stupidly they acted,” Smith added. | |
The university’s Chancellor alluded to the “racist overtones” of | |
the confrontation and the University of Mississippi has a long history | |
of racial incidents, including the deadly riots that broke out there | |
in 1962 when James Meredith became the first Black student to enroll | |
at the school. | |
“Yesterday, we observed a demonstration on our campus—a place for | |
the expression of diverse viewpoints, protected by our constitutional | |
First Amendment Rights,” the Ole Miss Associate Student Body said , | |
“Yet, amidst this expression, unacceptable remarks were made that | |
departed from our cherished values.” | |
Smith said she is disappointed the confrontation has become the topic | |
of conversation now, rather than a ceasefire in Gaza. She told CNN the | |
graduate school dean and a few other school administrators have | |
reached out to her since the video went viral. She is currently | |
preparing to graduate on May 11. | |
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