Ken Berwitz
Black-clad protestersgathered in front of Dartmouth Hall, forming a crowd roughly one hundred fiftystrong. Ostensibly there to denounce the removal of shirts from a display inCollis, the Black Lives Matter collective began to sing songs and chant their eponymouscatchphrase. Not content to merely demonstrate there for the night, the banddescended from their high-water mark to march into Baker-Berry Library.
“F*** you, you filthywhite f***s!” “F*** you and your comfort!” “F*** you, you racist s***!”
These shouted epithetswere the first indication that many students had of the coming storm. Thesign-wielding, obscenity-shouting protesters proceeded through the usuallyquiet backwaters of the library. They surged first through first-floor Berry,then up the stairs to the normally undisturbed floors of the building, beforecoming back down to the ground floor of Novack.
Throngs of protestersconverged around fellow students who had not joined in their long march. Theyconfronted students who bore “symbols of oppression”: “gangster hats” andBeats-brand headphones. The flood of demonstrators self-consciously oversteppedevery boundary, opening the doors of study spaces with students reviewing forexams. Those who tried to close their doors were harassed further. One studentabandoned the study room and ran out of the library. The protesters followedher out of the library, shouting obscenities the whole way.
Students who refusedto listen to or join their outbursts were shouted down. “Stand the f*** up!” “Youfilthy racist white piece of s***!” Men and women alike were pushed and shovedby the group. “If we can\’t have it, shut it down!” they cried. Another womanwas pinned to a wall by protesters who unleashed their insults, shouting “filthy white b****!” in her face.
An anonymous \’19explained that while working on a group project in a private study room, hisUGA came in and expressed his virulent disappointment that the he was notjoining in the protest. The UGA then demanded that he and the other members ofhis group project to leave the room and join in.
Another \’19 recalledclapping after a protester said, “let\’s give a round of applause for thebeautiful people of color who were here for this protest.” The protester thenturned on her saying, “for all of you that are sitting down and applaudingright now, \’we don’t care about you\’.”
Of course, theprotesters themselves have also spoken out in the aftermath of their march. Onewoman, identifying herself as one of the protesters in a lengthy post toFacebook, wrote, “we raised hell, we caused discomfort, and we made our voicesheard all throughout this campus in the name of standing up for our brothersand sisters across the country who are staring terrorism and assault directlyin the face.” She went on to accuse those she thought were insincere in theirsupport for the movement of “faking allyship,” and called the activities an “occupation of Baker Berry.”
