On Thursday, a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Mississippi was overtaken by counter-protesters, resulting in videos of white students mocking black students circulating online. The video was shared online and drew applause from Republican lawmakers.
“Ole Miss is in charge” Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) Posted on social media platform X.
The video has been heavily criticized as a racist act by the students. Collins has also been criticized for endorsing racist behavior in the video.
The Hill reached out to Collins’ team and asked for clarification on what he meant by posting the video.
In the clip, a white student appears to make monkey-like noises and gestures toward a black female graduate student.
The woman, who was standing alone filming, was being led backwards by police as a crowd of white students cheered, clapped, and screamed to chase her away. The camera pans to a man jumping up and down imitating a monkey’s howl.
“The students were calling for an end to the genocide. They faced racism,” says James M. Thomas, a professor of sociology at the university. Posted in X.
Other videos posted online show a larger crowd of about 200 people surrounding the protesters, shouting and shouting. Counter-demonstrators sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” drowning out chants from pro-Palestinian demonstrators calling for Israel to “stop the genocide” and for the U.S. to stop supplying weapons to the war.
In the 2022-23 academic year, about 76% of the university’s students were white and about 11% were black, according to the 2022-23 academic year. Associated Press.
University of Mississippi President Glenn Boyce said the school was aware of “some offensive, hurtful and unacceptable statements, including those that conveyed hostile or racist overtones.”
Boyce said the school had opened a student conduct investigation into one student, but could not identify who due to privacy laws. He said some individuals had acted contrary to the university’s values.
“While we are a modern university with a vibrant community of over 25,000 people, it is important to recognize our troubled history and incidents like this can set us back.” he wrote in an email to the campus community. “That’s one of the reasons we don’t take this lightly and don’t let the unacceptable acts of a few speak for our organization or define us.”
Republican Governor Tate Reeves also I posted a video He said the protests warmed his heart and that he loves Mississippi.
The counter-protesters carrying Trump 2024 flags were also praised by former President Donald Trump, who released a campaign ad highlighting clips from the Mississippi protests. The ad included a clip from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, students raised an American flag after protesters tried to take it down.
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