VIDEO: Students disrupt event on promoting ‘healthy’ dialogue
Student protesters recently shut down an event at the University of California, Irvine that was aimed at “promoting healthy intergroup communications.”
The event was part of “New Narratives,” an ongoing series of events sponsored by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Thomas Parham that seeks to promote “understanding, appreciation, and acceptance while moving talk into action.”
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But according to video obtained by Campus Reform of the latest installment in the series, Parham and a team of panelists were repeatedly disrupted by dozens of student protesters who complained that the conversations do little to actually address the important issues on campus.
“How does this event address the fact that Milo came to campus last year, a known white supremacist and three students were assaulted by police officers, one of which is the chief of police who is here today, and nothing happened to those f**king assaulters,” one protester shouted, referencing a list of demands created by the school’s Black Student Union that calls for the abolishment of the University Police Department.
Parham explained that since “this is a public university,” everybody “has a right to be able to come on to the campus,” though he was again disrupted by a protester who shouted “not when it’s violent.”
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Students then grew frustrated that they were unable to meet with administrators to discuss their demands and concerns, though Parham responded by noting that there’s an ad in the student newspaper every week inviting them to stop in during his office hours.
“You sit there and listen, but what happens? Nothing comes out of these meetings,” one protester shouted back, continuing to yell at Parham for several minutes.
“You don’t respect her existence! You’re afraid of scrutiny!” others began to shout while Parham again attempted to carry on with the scheduled forum.
“Your forum is a disruption in and of itself, my n—!” one protester shouted back, after which one last activist began ranting for several minutes.
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“You’re bastardizing—bastardizing!— the meaning of resistance because you’re saying resistance is within this bullsh*t ass thing that we’re in right now. You’re saying resistance is within this, and it really isn’t,” she shouted in an apparent response to a panelists attempts to applaud their protest efforts.
“Resistance is saying ‘f**k this,’ you know, ‘f**k the police, or whoever the f**k you invited over here and then listen to us, listen to what we’re saying. And we’re not just talking out of our ass, like we’re smart as f**k, you know what I mean? We read books, and we know sh*t; we know statistics,” she continued.
“Stop talking like we stupid up in here, man! I’m not dumb and none of these motherf**ckers up here are dumb, either,” she added while Parham invited the group of protesters to remain for the event, though the video concludes with a crowd of protesters leaving the venue.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski
