Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday October 29 2016, @02:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the whatever-happened-to-DEsegregation? dept.

The Washington Times reports a story about protesters on the UC Berkeley campus physically blocking white students from accessing a bridge while police stand by and watch:

Students at the University of California, Berkeley held a day of protest on Friday to demand the creation of additional “safe spaces” for transgender and nonwhite students, during which a human chain was formed on a main campus artery to prevent white students from getting to class.

The demonstrators were caught on video blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.”

Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!”

Students turned away by the mob are later shown filing through trees and ducking under branches in order to cross Strawberry Creek, which runs underneath the bridge.

The protests were a response to a Safe Space being moved from the fifth floor of a building down to the basement.


[Original version of this story had "UCLA"; corrected to: "UC Berkeley" -Ed.]

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Saturday October 29 2016, @07:53PM

    by Zz9zZ (1348) on Saturday October 29 2016, @07:53PM (#420231)

    You paint with a very large brush. I did my own research and you are basically describing the crazy minority of these groups. It is very hard for someone that doesn't share a marginalized position in society to understand what it is like. Personally I tend to be optimistic, hoping that some nasty bullshit was more of a mis-understanding. To use a more easily understood example, imagine a rape victim sitting with a friend at the local coffee shop talking quietly about what happened. Someone overhears a bit of it and chimes in with "Well you shouldn't go out to parties and walk back alone." While that may be true advice it is a terrible time to offer it and can easily send the victim into a depression for days.

    This same sort of thing happens all the time to anyone with a marginalized viewpoint. Half the people on this site should understand, try talking to an average person about the depths of government spying and see how quickly they treat you like a diseased crazy person. Soylentnews is our safe space (haha). So that is what safe spaces are about, its not excluding based on race, its including based on shared experiences. I guarantee that the majority of people in such spaces would welcome a white person if there was a legitimate plea. Maybe some white kid grew up in the ghetto and all his friends were black and he feels a bit isolated at the predominantly white/asian university, 10:1 bet that he would quickly have a new group of friends.

    That you call this a cult reveals your own failings, you and many on this site are like academics sitting in their towers trying to understand the world they never experience.

    --
    ~Tilting at windmills~
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 2) by BK on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:46PM

    by BK (4868) on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:46PM (#420309)

    You paint with a very large brush. I did my own research and you are basically describing the crazy minority of these groups.

    Those 'crazy minority groups' so often end up setting the agenda.

    --
    ...but you HAVE heard of me.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:51PM (#420314)

    Soylent is our safe space. We all gather 'round, and watch as Aristarchus beats up anyone whose views are different from his.

  • (Score: 1) by Arik on Sunday October 30 2016, @01:02PM

    by Arik (4543) on Sunday October 30 2016, @01:02PM (#420496) Journal
    It's impossible to meaningfully characterize any movement without using a fairly broad brush. But make no mistake, this is a movement, it's pretty cohesive, it has quite distinct characteristics as a movement, and those who do do not share those characteristics do not cohere and do not adhere for long. It's only fair when discussing any movement to focus on the core characteristics, no?

    Similarly, when you say: "It is very hard for someone that doesn't share a marginalized position in society to understand what it is like" that's actually quite true.

    And don't assume you know my position, or can gauge my sympathies, without evidence. I call them a cult as a result of seeing cult-like behavior and seeing the teachers and leaders rationalize and justify that behavior instead of drawing back from it. Just because someone paints themselves as a defender of the downtrodden and 'marginalized' doesn't necessarily make it so.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Sunday October 30 2016, @07:38PM

      by Zz9zZ (1348) on Sunday October 30 2016, @07:38PM (#420611)

      Some good points, but you're still running with the spin on this story as if it is true. This was a well done protest that is not about racism, its about people wanting a shared cultural space on campus. There are Jewish/Black/Engineering/RichKid fraternities/sororities, I don't see you getting upset about those. There are clubs specifically for certain activities, shall we call them all bigots because they exclude other activities?

      You're complaining about a very minor thing, and why should I not assume to know your position based upon short statements? You're doing it with this story, crying racism where there actually isn't any (except for probably a minority of the protesters, but that goes for any large group).

      --
      ~Tilting at windmills~
      • (Score: 1) by Arik on Sunday October 30 2016, @08:27PM

        by Arik (4543) on Sunday October 30 2016, @08:27PM (#420626) Journal

        "Some good points, but you're still running with the spin on this story as if it is true. "

        It does still appear to be *roughly* accurate.

        "This was a well done protest that is not about racism, its about people wanting a shared cultural space on campus."

        Actually it was about them being unhappy with the space allocated to them, and demanding a better space.

        And calling it a 'well done protest' is truly offensive, as someone that's been part of well done protests, someone that's faced police violence for protesting when I didn't block anyone from passing, didn't threaten anyone either verbally or non verbally, when in other words I was actually part of a well done protest. This does not look like one to me. You have a right to protest in a public space but you do NOT have the right to physically block other people who have just as much right to pass as you do to protest. That's not 'well done' at all. This didn't look like a protest to me, it looked like something rather sinister in fact.

        "There are Jewish/Black/Engineering/RichKid fraternities/sororities, I don't see you getting upset about those."

        Show me one that's physically blocking a public path because they think they deserve more space?

        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?