Black grads aggressively yanked off stage

[Demovictory9]

Last edited Mon May 7, 2018, 12:50 AM - Edit history (1)

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5aef1edce4b0c4f19323a98a



Outrage After Celebrating Black Graduates Are Yanked Off College’s Stage

The University of Florida’s president has apologized for what he called “inappropriately aggressive” behavior.



A day of joy and celebration spurred complaints of racism after a college graduation marshal pushed and propelled several black students off the commencement ceremony’s stage, prompting an apology from the school.

The University of Florida graduates were walking across the stage on Saturday after their names had been called out when they took a moment to revel in their accomplishments while featured on the arena’s jumbotron.


Videos taken at the ceremony show each individual performing a roughly three-second dance or wave before they were grabbed by a white man wearing a ceremonial robe and forced out of the jumbotron camera’s view.

[dhol82]

1. Oh, FFS!

How stupid.

[Demovictory9]

3. I thought headline must be exaggerating until I saw vid

[Exotica]

14. It is horrid!

What the fuck is wrong with that asshole?

I am just burning mad.

[Igel]

24. Watch more vid.

They came on stage. They did their dance. If they stopped, they were "aggressively pushed off stage" to actually go all the way on the stage and get their diplomas. You don't see that very clearly in the video that's gone viral--"off the stage" means "towards the center of the stage." If they went backwards and insisted on going backwards, it looks like there's a tussle, as the "usher" physically insists that they continue going forward onto the stage to get their diplomas even as they continue their dance. It makes it look like there's some kind of fight going on and the dancer's resisting, even if the dancer's still dancing. Look at the sheer hate on the white guy's face and the terror on the students' ... Or the ennui on the white guy's face and the joy on those being aggressed upon.

Did any non-blacks get this treatment? I don't know. Was it common? Also don't know. It might be that all examples of forceful ushering off the stage towards the main part of the stage were on the video. It might be that we just saw some of the examples, but only AfAm students were treated this way and not any others. It might be that we just saw a non-random sample of AfAm students, and non-AfAm students being compelled to keep on moving simply weren't shown--or maybe it was a behavior exhibited by a handful of AfAm students. We assume completeness of what's shown, but we're not even told this is claimed. But like a lot of other videos I've seen, you watch what's presented and you think, "The racist bastards!" Then you watch the 3-4 minutes before and after and you think, "No, I had it backwards--the response was perhaps too much, but the guy I felt sorry for started it and had a lot of chances to stop it." And sometimes the video is the complete story. The first thing is to challenge one's own assumptions, which is another way of saying "engage in critical thinking."

We also don't know what they were told ahead of time. Even in my paltry graduation we were told not to stop but to just keep on walking, don't stop, don't bow, don't act out in any way. It may be that these students were told the same thing, and it may also be that they were told that if they did anything else they'd be ushered along. I can't rule out that their actions were a response to a perceived injustice at not being allowed to engage in self-expression.

[sakabatou]

2. I just have no words at this moment

[Demovictory9]

4. The last video on the page shows the full body tackle of a grad

[JI7]

5. looks like he slowed them down by grabbing them instead

of just letting them go along .

[Haggis for Breakfast]

6. There is no way to look at this and not think

had they not been black there would have been no problem. The were jubilant. Why not give them a minut to exult in the moment. Graduation is meant to be joyously celebrated. On my Mortor board, I dipped my head so that everyone could see my sign "You may now applaud."

But this is Florida . . .

[Demovictory9]

7. response from univ president

[Cha]

8. Mahalo for that, Demovictory..

They were so happy!

[HipChick]

9. I am so sick of this...this is disgusting...that employee needs to be named

[lindysalsagal]

17. For fuchs sake!

Graduations always have bad behavior, and it's never limited to any 1 identifyable group. It's just what happens. Like this is something new....The only interesting part of a graduation is to see what each group will do to make it their own. They only see this every 12 months....

[Tipperary]

13. Um, you have a misspelling there lol.

“Mortor”. Oh dear.

[oberliner]

22. The same exact thing happened to white grads

At the ceremony.

Watch the full video.

[quickesst]

27. A lot of people are ignoring you....

....... for one simple reason. You are stealing their outrage thunder. Like stealing a junkies last shot of heroin. Difference being that a junkie can't ignore it, and hope the high he desires still happens, while the outraged, with a little help from their friends, can ignore it with a good chance of being validated. That leaves you with.... WTF!!

[sarah FAILIN]

29. When my kids graduated the rules were strict.

They were told if they didn't act and dress appropriately they would get their diplomas held. One of our other County Schools refused to let some kids that rolled the school as an end of the year prank graduate at all. At college they were forbidden to decorate their mortor and anyone that did had it taken away and replaced with a loaner. They always had the rule against celebrations and it wasn't a big deal to follow the rules

[W T F]

10. He has no right to touch them. They should file assault and charges against him, and the school.

[Sherman A1]

18. Precisely

This was completely out of line and the school needs to come up with much more than an apology. Sorry just don’t cut it.

[OneBro]

11. Hmmm.

The first few students don’t look upset about the contact. The last student (who seemed to get the biggest push) was too far away to tell his reaction. If none of them took offense (or perceived it as racism), we should pause.

America has racists aplenty without potentially mislabeling this guy a racist just because he’s white. Were celebrating white students treated differently by the same guy?

Yes, it seems like an over-reaction to a few seconds of celebration, but i suspect we all agree that impatience does not equal racism, just as we likely agree that racists are particularly vile lowlifes.

[uponit7771]

12. Someone NOT upset at obvious racism means there's no racism? Really ?! Lets not enable peoples ...

... lesser angles.

Could be the person didn't think that he's only handling AA students that's still no excuse for his lack of thinking of a better way to handle this situation.

[OneBro]

16. Obvious because he's white?

So if there is video of him doing the same thing to white grads, does he suddenly become non-racist?

[oberliner]

20. Yes, there is video of him doing the same thing to white grads

https://commencement.ufl.edu/webcasts.html

[OneBro]

25. Thank you!

(((sigh of relief)))

[uponit7771]

31. Yes ... irregardless not being offended by racism doesn't make racist acts non racist

[oberliner]

21. White grads were treated the same way

[Scurrilous]

15. I've been to graduations at UF before.

They're long and boring and the only thing that livens them up is the occasional grad who celebrates on stage. That and the air horns and the sorority that barks like dogs when one their own gets called. Anyway, it's supposed to be fun. Whoever authorized that Nazi to be on stage fucking with people should be fired.

[oberliner]

19. White grads too

Watch the full video of the event.

[uponit7771]

30. Thank you Oberliner

[malaise]

23. The only US graduation I ever attended was at UF

when one of the Florida nephews graduated some years ago. It was lovely - this is really sad and unforgivable.

[Tipperary]

26. It was not just the black grads. But you probably knew that.

Right?

[Fix The Stupid]

28. Geez...

it's almost like they're trying to stir up racial tensions???

I mean, why would anyone do that here???

So blatantly obvious what the agenda is...

Wake up people.

[fescuerescue]

32. Even TSA isn't allowed to touch you

without your permission. If you refuse to obey they have to call real police.

I know that school graduations do have a problem frequently with family celebrations or student grand standing, and it's not fair to the next graduate that has their name drowned out due to cheers from the previous family. This is true regardless of race.

But the way to handle it is with delayed diplomas. Not by touching the person, or PUSHing them off state. This is assault.

I think the kids were out of line (especially considering how LARGE college graduations typically are), but assaulting the kid was the crime, not the excessive celebration.

[oberliner]

33. Having now watched the full graduation video, I have changed my mind on this

While he did speed along some white people, the aggressive behavior was displayed exclusively towards black people.

[IronLionZion]

34. Thankfully no police mistook their dancing for a gun

People of color going to college and pursuing good careers bothers a certain type of white person. Their celebratory dancing is why so many whites voted for Trump to make America great again and take us back to a time when such horrible things were prevented by agents of the state.