A Black Lives Matter protest at Dartmouth University ended in violence and vulgar epithets when protesting students stormed through the library chanting and flipping people off.
The event took place this past week in Novack around 7:40 p.m. and participating students dressed in all-black while marching through the school. The night started out with a short speech, to which students apparently responded with “We shall overcome.”
According to The Tab, an anonymous 19-year-old student – who was studying at the time – described the moment when protesters started to walk through:
“I was sitting in Novack studying when a large group of protestors came in chanting ‘black lives matter.’ They gathered in the center of Novack amongst the tables where there were a number of people working peacefully.
They kept shouting and started banging on tables. They demanded that people stand up to show their solidarity. Those who did not stand were targeted and questioned.
There was a girl studying in one of the study rooms in Novack and the protestors stormed the room. She closed the door on one of the protestors which resulted in rage from many protestors. The girl then exited silently through the crowd while protestors screamed at her calling her a white b*tch.
At one point the protestors crowded around a guy sitting on his laptop and stared at him screaming at him ‘If we cant study, you can’t study.’”
According to Mediate, things didn’t stop there.
In a critical editorial, the conservative Dartmouth Review listed some of the epithets hurled by the protesters: “F*ck you, you filthy white f*cks!” “F*ck you and your comfort!” “F*ck you, you racist sh*ts!”
In addition, the Review reports that some of the protesters became physically violent: “Men and women alike were pushed and shoved by the group. ‘If we can’t have it, shut it down!’ they cried. Another woman was pinned to a wall by protesters who unleashed their insults, shouting ‘filthy white b*tch!’ in her face.”
The protest was initially supposed to garner awareness and promote equality on campus, but this particular event seemed to be counterproductive and overly aggressive. There are better ways to get your point across than to result in violence and harassment. This movement is important – let’s not make a mockery of it by acting foolish.
Twitter seemed to agree:
I understand the whole Black Lives Matter thing, but storming into Dartmouth college and harassing white people is not the correct way to go
— mylon hatake (@MylonWilcox) November 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/idahbish/status/666374219542982657
Yes, many of those #BlackLivesMatter protesters at Dartmouth fucked up. That doesn't mean that the BLM message is any less legitimate
— 🌹man in bloom🌹 (@maninbloom) November 16, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJAuVQlLxD0