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Thursday night, the University Activities Board held a screening of Dear White People, a movie about black students experiences at a fictional, predominantly white university. Following the movie was a panel discussion, with some students coming to voice their concerns about the event. UAB also screened the film from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Stafford Commons, accompanied by signs with quotes from the movie, all opening with the phrase, Dear white people

UAB leadership received at least two email complaints from students who took offense to the signs, while other students took to Wolfpack Students to air their concerns publicly. After UAB screened the movie in the Witherspoon Campus Cinema, followed by a panel discussion, students also showed up to the discussion to share their thoughts with the audience and panel.

Before the evening screening, UABs Diversity Activities Board Chair Nyla Ruiz said in a Facebook post in Wolfpack Students that the signs were meant as a novel approach to promote dialogue about race. Ruiz, a senior studying biological sciences, also addressed students upset about the signs directly.

You as a white person being upset because it's in your face and you don't want to deal with it, talking about this is 'reverse racism', which doesn't exist, that is the epitome of white privilege, Ruiz said in the post.

After the evening screening, the panel, which included student leaders and university faculty and staff, opened by answering prepared questions on their initial thoughts about the film and how the struggles of the characters in the movie related to the struggles of people of color at NC State.

Among the subjects covered by the panelists were personal encounters with racial discrimination on and off campus, aspects of the movie that accurately reflected their own experience and the complexity of having a multiracial identity.

President-elect of UAB Kam Risku was on the panel. She spoke about the backlash to the event, and how it reflected a broader pattern on campus.

[The backlash] is just one of many examples of students of color, especially black students, expressing themselves in ways that is looked at as retaliation or negative when in fact its just a freedom of speech, said Risku, a junior studying political science.

Students were then invited to ask questions to the panel at a microphone at the front of the cinema. Assistant professor of psychology Elan Hope answered a question about reverse discrimination, which one student said was being used by students complaining about the signs.

People may feel that theres prejudice against them and may feel upset by the signs; thats their legitimate feelings, Hope said. Is it a systematic type of oppression based on culture and laws? No.

Student questions continued, with one about colorism, which is discrimination against individuals with a darker skin tone than is typical among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Another student asked about the disparity between the common usage of the term racism and its scholarly definition.

Jordan White, a senior studying business administration, brought up his disagreement with the UABs signs. After explaining his own understanding of the word racist, he asked Hope whether somebody whos not white in America can be racist.

In America today? No, Hope said. Prejudiced? Yes. Biased? Yes. Racist? No. And, to further your question, can one white person in America today be racist? No.

After Jordan White finished his questions and comments, his brother Jeremy White, a facilities maintenance technician for NC States utilities and engineering services, also spoke. He expressed his disapproval for the signs on Stafford Commons, calling them disgusting, and responded to the idea of America having a system of racism.

Im not saying there was never racism in America, Jeremy White said. Look at history, obviously these things happened. Were past that point. Theres always going to be individual racism somewhere. The idea that the whole country by itself right now is racist is ludicrous.

Jeremy White continued his remarks, at one point attacking the event itself.

Tuition money is going to dumb stuff like this, Jeremy White said.

After a vocal audience response, Hope implored the audience to let Jeremy White speak.

This is important that you respect his time at the microphone and let him speak, Hope said.

Jeremy White also refuted the idea of white privilege. Risku responded to Jeremy Whites statement about students paying for the event, downplaying the cost of the UAB fee and per-student cost of the event, which she estimated to be about 75 cents.

This one program made you upset and I understand that, but theres a lot of other opportunities and spaces for you to feel comfortable and safe to learn some more, Risku said.

After Jeremy White finished, students and panelists spoke about personal experiences with discriminatory behavior, media portrayals of black people and homophobia in the black community.

UAB Vice President of Communication Lexi Hudson, a senior studying business administration, spoke in response to the earlier question about reverse racism, sharing part of an essay by Tim Wise, an anti-racist activist and writer.

UAB Director of Social Media Imani Starling-Brown, a sophomore studying fashion and textile management, went to the microphone to speak publicly to Jeremy White, who had since left, apologizing for being among the people who interrupted as he was speaking.

I want everyone to feel like they can come to this space and learn, Starling-Brown said. I want people to feel like they wont be attacked when they do come into these spaces because I respect the fact that he even came.

After Starling-Brown left the microphone, the audience moved upstairs to a conference room in the African American Cultural Center. The discussion continued there, covering topics such as the experience of being a part of both the black and LGBT communities, the privileges afforded to black people who are straight and/or Christian, and the historical underpinnings of modern systems of oppression.

Michael Hoxie, a junior studying biological sciences, responded to a comment about colorism by saying that he believed such prejudice is related to preferences. He later clarified his comment.

I disagree that its all socialized, Hoxie said. Im actually studying biology, and I think theres actually a lot of biological evidence that we have preferences for people who look like us.

Hoxie also said that the forum left some people with a different view on the matter of race feeling uncomfortable to speak publicly.

This whole time, there is not this freedom of opening up and being able to share your opinions, Hoxie said. Its really attacking and maligning people because they have a little bit of a different view.

After he finished his comments, the moderator asked the audience to move onto another subject. Another participant later responded to Hoxie by describing colorism as another form of racism. Risku also responded to Hoxie.*

If you actually study biology, you know that race is a social construct; its not biological, Risku said.* Race isnt a real thing; its something white people made up to make people of color feel inferior so, I think you should go back and study some more biology.

After almost two hours of discussion following the movie, the UAB and the AACC drew the event to a close.

*Editor's Note: This story originally misattributed a quote from Dawn Morgan.

Continued here:
UAB's 'Dear White People' discussion prompts race dialogue | News ... - N.C. State University Technician Online

Conveying intent is a constant issue when communicating because language evolves over time and meanings can change based on context. Context can be the difference between saving or ruining a reputation. Unfortunately, there have been some egregious instances of selective truth and disregard for context in recent months.

Selective truth can be as destructive as a complete lie, especially when the removal of context could harm someones reputation. The Wall Street Journal used selective truth when it published an article Feb. 14 about Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie, a Swedish gamer and comedian who hosts the most subscribed channel on YouTube. The authors of the article approached Kjellbergs sponsors about alleged anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi imagery in some of his videos. Following this attempt for comment, Kjellberg was dropped by Maker Studios and lost Google Preferred advertising and his YouTube Red series Scare PewDiePie.

The main video receiving criticism, which Kjellberg has since deleted and apologized for, admitting that the joke went too far, shows him making requests on Fivver, a website where people can advertise services they are willing to provide for approximately $5. Kjellberg submitted several extreme orders to see if users were actually willing to do anything for $5. One of the services Kjellberg paid for was to have two men in a jungle hold up a sign reading Death to all Jews and say Subcribe to Keemstar, who has an infamous YouTube drama channel and a history of making racist statements.

It is not unreasonable for companies to cut ties with Kjellberg for the sake of brand image following a joke made in poor taste. The greater issue is the misrepresentation and selective truth in the article by The Wall Street Journal. Had the article focused solely on the Fivver video, which understandably crossed the line for many people, there would not be an issue with the piece. Instead the article includes other supposed evidence, most of which has been taken out of context.

One clip shows an image of Adolf Hitler used as a transition in a video, which was from a parody of drama channels, such as the one operated by the aforementioned Keemstar. Another clip shows Kjellberg viewing swastikas in fan submissions from his mobile game PewDiePies Tuber Simulator, which is behavior he condemned in the full video. Another clip shows Kjellberg wearing a Nazi uniform as a Hitler speech plays, which he did to satirize the potential fascist-like censorship that could result from the YouTube Heroes programs mass flagging ability.

Technically The Wall Street Journal is not incorrect. The article states that Kjellbergs videos contain anti-Semitic and Nazi imagery, and those images of swastikas and Hitler were used in PewDiePie videos. However, the mere presence of a symbol does not necessarily equal an endorsement of the ideas and beliefs it represents. By removing the video clips from their original context of criticism or satire, the article changes the intended message and impact, leaving only the historical implications of the images. This misrepresentation of Kjellberg presents him as a proponent of ideas he does not actually support instead of the satirist he actually is.

Context is sometimes even ignored when people are explicitly told that it shouldnt be. This disregard was seen when the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added the Pepe the Frog meme to its hate symbol database. The database entry clearly states that the majority of the memes uses are non-bigoted and context should always be used when determining whether a particular version of the meme is racist. Despite the entrys clarification that the meme is not inherently racist, headlines and articles quickly started calling it an anti-Semitic meme and the racist frog.

Fast-food chain Wendys felt the impact of this false labeling Jan. 4 when it tweeted a Pepe meme that looked like its mascot. By the ADLs standard of evaluating within context, the meme is obviously innocuous. However, Wendys received upset replies and news articles, causing the chain to remove the tweet and apologize for the misunderstanding.

From a public relations perspective, the best course of action was for Wendys to remove the tweet and appease the people who were upset. However, since the meme was non-bigoted in context, deleting the tweet reinforced the misconception that Pepe is offensive in all circumstances. There is a campaign, #SavePepe, started by the ADL and the memes creator, Matt Furie, to reclaim it from the groups making racist variations. However, it is difficult to restore the reputation of the meme if people are attacked for using it in any context, even non-bigoted ones.

In regards to Kjellberg and Pepe the Frog, some journalists and bloggers argue that intentions and context do not matter if the outcome is negative. It is true that some racist groups praised Kjellberg and Wendys for their actions, but that praise was for the promotion of ideas that neither Kjellberg nor Wendys intended to promote. If too much reliance is placed on intention then there is no longer accountability for the consequences of actions, but if intent is disregarded entirely then self-censorship occurs out of the fear that words or actions will be misinterpreted. There must always be balance, and context will always be a necessary part of this balance if judgments of character are to be fair.

Krista enjoys long walks to the fridge and correcting grammar. She specializes in writing, video editing, and graphic design. Her greatest goal is to create interesting content for interesting people.

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Context is crucial - The Signal

Shia LaBeoufCreditIllustration by Tom Bachtell

A few years ago, after he starred in Transformers, the actor Shia LaBeouf seemed poised to become the next Johnny Depp; instead, he started behaving more like the next James Franco. In 2014, he showed up at the Berlin Film Festival wearing a tuxedo, with a brown paper bag over his head. This was a piece of performance art called I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE, which he had created with the artists Nastja Sde Rnkk and Luke Turner. The trio went on to produce a skywriting project, a hitchhiking project, and, most recently, HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US, a piece of anti-Trump protest art, launched on Inauguration Day. The work, according to a statement, consisted of a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, in Queens. Members of the public were invited to recite, into the camera, the titular mantra. The statement continued, The participatory performance will be live-streamed at http://www.hewillnotdivide.us continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency.

The project caught the attention of the hordes on 4chan, an online message board where people post anonymously. One of the most notorious parts of 4chan is called /pol/, which stands for politically incorrect, and where the ideologies range from anarchism to fascism and ironic anarcho-fascism. It was the denizens of /pol/ who, last year, turned Pepe the Frog, once a benign cartoon, into a neo-Nazi icon. Many frequent posters there could be called trollsyoung, understimulated men whose main goal is to be the chaos they wish to see in the world.

Within hours, 4chan trolls had decided to protest the protest. Or, as one poster put it, Shia Leboof and a bunch of libtards making an ass of themselves for 4 years live because Trump won. /pol/ fucks with them. At MOMI, a few trolls infiltrated the crowd, shouting about conspiracy theories and white supremacy. Six days after the live stream began, LaBeouf, who was in the crowd, confronted one of the trolls and got arrested, on camera. On February 10th, the museum cancelled the project, citing public-safety concerns.

A week later, the live stream recommenced, from a location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, across the street from a tire store. You tried to shut us down in New Yorkwere still out here, LaBeouf shouted into the camera. How is it cool to be a Nazi now? Shut the fuck up. The trolls appeared, and vandalized it with spray paint. Within five days, the Albuquerque live stream went dark.

On March 8th, the artists updated their site. The project moved to an unknown location, they wrote. A flag emblazoned with the words HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US will be flown for the duration. The live stream was back up, showing a white flag with black letters against an open sky.

Five minutes later, someone started a thread on /pol/: Can we find where the flag is?

Does the sun come into view? someone else posted. We can find angle from the sun path to the ground if we assume the pole is vertical.

We might be able to do trigonometry with shadows on the flag, another person wrote. One of the trolls quickly found a clue: a photo of LaBeouf, taken days earlier, at a diner in Greeneville, Tennessee. Another troll checked the weather in Greeneville; it matched the video. Anyone else hear the frogs croaking? someone wrote, referring to the live streams audio. This prompted a discussion, including color-coded maps, about local species of cricket frogs.

At 1:56 P.M., a plane flew by on the live stream. AIRPLANE GUYS AIRPLANE AIRPLANE! someone wrote. A troll suggested checking Flightradar24.com, a site that tracks flight paths. IF its in greeneville, well see new planes come in from the east and the north, someone posted. Seven seconds later, another plane flew by, heading south.

GREENEVILLE CONFIRMED. WE DID IT LADS.

When they had a good idea of the flags cordinates, a /pol/ poster who lives in the Greeneville area drove around and honked, hoping that the noise would be audible on the live stream. It was. Night fell, and the trolls used astronomy to further pinpoint the flag: The faint star visible next to the flag is Polarisit has to be since the other star is rotating around it in a perfect circle.

In the middle of the night, a group of trolls gathered at the exact location, a farmhouse with an open field behind it. Anyone who was watching the live stream at that time saw the white flag come down. A minute later, something was hoisted in its place: a Pepe the Frog T-shirt, and a Make America Great Again hat. On March 22nd, the artists reopened the live stream, this time from Liverpool. British trolls got to the flag the next morning. Once again, the live stream went dark.

The rest is here:
Trolls Protest Shia LaBeouf's Anti-Trump Protest Art - The New Yorker

Officer-involved shooting...

RED BLUFF, Calif. - Authorities are continuing to look into an officer-involved shooting that took place Friday night on I-5, north of Red Bluff.

On March 24, around 11:45 p.m., a Red Bluff area California Highway PatrolOfficer conducted a traffic enforcement stop on a white Hyundai Sedan on northbound Interstate 5, north of Hooker Creek Road in Tehama County. The CHP Officer contacted the two adult male occupants of the Hyundai and conversed about the enforcement stop.

The officer, whose name is being withheld under the Peace Officer's Procedural Bill of Rights, continued to ask the two occupants questions when one of them shot him in the right thigh. Officials say that the CHP officer then drew his sidearm and fired at the shooter, hitting both the driver and the passenger of the vehicle.

One of the occupants was pronounced dead at the scene by medical staff, while the other was taken to a local hospital for his major injuries.

Backup officers from the California Highway Patrol, Red Bluff Police Department, and Tehama County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene and the injured CHP Officer was rescued from the scene and transported to an area hospital for his major injuries.

"We're still early on, the Department of Justice is here doing a crime scene investigation for us, the California Highway Patrol has theirMAITteam doing a diagram, our office, the Sheriff's Office is handling criminal aspect of the investigation, the California Highway Patrol is handling their internal investigation" said Lt. David Greer of the Tehama County Sheriff's Office.

Northbound Interstate 5 was closed from Hooker Creek Road to Sunset Hills Road for approximately 12 hours while investigators and Criminalists thoroughly investigated the scene of the shooting.

The identity of the two occupants of the white Hyundai is pending further investigation and the notification of next of kin to the deceased occupant.

The CHP Officer has been released from the area hospital and is recovering from his injuries.

Northbound traffic was slow moving just north of Red Bluff where a detour had been set up for most of Saturday. Drivers had to exit at Hooker Creek Road then drive along Auction Yard Road and then they could get back onto northbound I-5 at Sunset Hills Boulevard.

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Update: Officer-involved shooting investigation continues - KRCR - KRCRTV.COM

When the suspect Joel Burt Keenan raised both of his pistols and pointed them at Aiken County Sheriffs Deputy Sylvester Young, Jr., he reactively fired one fatal shot.

He presented an obvious threat to my life and the lives of the by-standers in the immediate area, Young said in a statement. To defend my life and the lives of others, I engaged (Keenan) by firing my pistol.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division released their investigation documents on the 2016 officer-involved shooting involving Deputy Young, who has recently been put on administrative leave again this year for his second officer-involved shooting.

Young was recently put on administrative leave for a second time after he shot suspect Chanden Micah Emory in the arm on March 6.

However, Emory did not die in the shooting.

Emory, 23, of the 400 block of Edisto Drive in North Augusta, is charged with attempted murder, assault and battery first degree, failure to stop for blue lights first offense and two counts of manufacture, possession of other substance in Schedule I, II, III or flunitrazepam or ANA, according to jail records.

Emory was briefly hospitalized before being released and extradited to Aiken County.

Young was first put on leave following the officer-involved shooting on Nov. 6, 2016. That night on the 200 block of Dean Drive he fired the fatal shot that killed 43-year-old Joel Burt Keenan, of New Ellenton.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has now released all the documents involved in that officer-involved shooting, including the 911 calls, dash-cam footage and crime scene photos.

The dash-cam footage shows Young is the first deputy to pull up to the scene on Dean Drive, where you suddenly see a group of bystanders gesturing for him to stop and pointing. Young then parks the car in front of a bush for the remainder of the footage.

SLEDs crime scene investigation summary states several deputies, including Young, arrived to 209 Dean Drive in Beech Island following several 911 calls referencing an armed man acting erratically and threatening people.

However, before Keenan was reported causing a disturbance on Dean Drive, he was spotted with a gun nearby at the Gulf gas station on Pine Log Road.

Just before 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, a 27-year-old Beech Island man was pumping gas at the Gulf station with his kids strapped in their car seats.

He was the first to call 911 about a white male threatening to shoot him with a gun.

In audio released by SLED, the man tells dispatch, "something bad's about to go down at the Gulf station on Pine Log and Storm Branch Road. Somebody's about to get shot or rob the store."

The man explains to the dispatcher that he was pumping gas into his truck, when Keenan stepped out of his 25-foot white recreational vehicle, or RV, pointed a .380 at me and said, 'Get out of here right now and take your kids with you. ... I'm telling you you got one chance to get out of here.'

The caller said Keenan pointed his pistol to his head, so he tried to step aside to distance Keenan from his kids, according to the 911 call.

I wasnt going to try to get into my truck and drive because my kids seats were literally right there facing him - so I just went straight up to my window to get his attention off my truck where my children are, the caller said.

Shortly after the first 911 call, Aiken County dispatch started receiving calls from residents on and around Dean Drive saying Keenan was parked outside a trailer with a gun.

One caller said he didn't know Keenan, but it appeared he was "drunk or something."

Dispatch received a call from a woman, barely audible in 911 tapes, who whispered, "Please come hurry. He's got a gun. ... Please hurry."

Prior to deputies arrival to Deans Drive, Keenans erratic behavior caused him to be confronted by nearby neighbors one of the neighbors reportedly fired a warning shot into the air, but did not hit Keenan, according to the SLED crime scene summary.

The summary states that during the confrontation between Keenan and the neighbor with a gun, Keenan somehow managed to take the gun from the man, which left him in possession of two weapons when police arrived on the scene.

SLED released Youngs voluntary statement about the shooting and what happened next.

Once I got out of my patrol vehicle, I looked to my left, which was the direction in which the group of people I first encountered driving up to the scene were pointing almost immediately, I saw a male subject walking toward me, Young said. I then saw that the male subject was carrying a black-colored pistol in one hand and chrome-colored pistol in his other hand.

Young said in the statement that as soon as he noticed Keenan was armed, he immediately drew (his) service weapon and pointed it at Keenan, giving him a loud verbal directive to stop walking and drop his weapons.

(Keenan) immediately stopped walking toward me, but he did not drop either of his weapons, Young said in the statement. Using my body microphone, I then advised dispatch that I had an armed subject refusing to drop his weapons.

Young said no other fellow deputies had arrived to the scene at this point. He said he yelled several more times at Keenan to drop his weapons, but he did not.

Keenan then claimed to be a federal agent and explained to Young that he wasnt going to drop his weapons, Young said.

Young fired one round from his service weapon a few moments later, striking Keenan in the chest. Keenan was pronounced dead at the scene.

A blood test was given during Keenans autopsy, which showed he had a significant amount of methamphetamine in his system when he was shot, according to SLEDs forensic records.

Police and court records showed Keenan had been in and out of the court system dating back to 1991.

In the North Augusta incident on Mar. 3, deputies responded to Clearmont Drive in North Augusta following a call about a suspicious vehicle in a vacant and secured location, according to the incident report.

Upon arrival, deputies reported observing Emory and two other individuals sitting inside the vehicle, the report stated.

Deputies went to speak with Emory who was in the drivers seat, when he suddenly put the vehicle in reverse, according to the report.

Emory then accelerated forward, striking Deputy Joel Knight with the car, the report states.

Young then discharged two bullets into the vehicle, hitting Emory in his forearm, according to the report.

Emory then fled at a high rate of speed and the two deputies pursued him until he stopped on Edgefield Road, according to the report.

EMS was called to the scene and they took Emory and Knight to an Augusta hospital.

Abdullah said Knight is no longer in the hospital, but he has not yet returned to work.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is also investigating this officer-involved shooting.

See the article here:
SLED releases reports from 2016 officer-involved shooting - Aiken Standard