Student organizations rally against the ‘White Lives Matter’ movement lurking on campus

The Signal ^ | November 18, 2015 | Zekari Smith

[2ndDivisionVet]

Stickers emblazoned with “White Lives Matter” have been popping up around Georgia State’s campus for the past month, and the people behind them are currently unknown.

For Georgia State students who remember the White Student Union controversy back in 2013, Patrick Sharp is an easy scapegoat. Sharp, however, refuted this claim, but does say that many people have approached him about the stickers, many of whom could have been the creator.

“Many, if not most white students are tired of racial double standards but don’t want to have lunatics coming after them, as I have. So I don’t know who did it exactly. It could have been any number of people,” he said.

Still, Sharp defended the stickers and said the message behind them is that white people shouldn’t be attacked based on being white. He said white people are not “uniquely evil.”

When asked how these stickers should be dealt with, Sharp said they should be left alone.

“Georgia State should do nothing. It’s not the school’s business to tell people what they can say and think. If people want the school to tell them what they should say and think, they are probably a little too delicate to be attending college to begin with,” he said.

Shakira Thomas, Georgia State freshman and biology major, also said the stickers should not be considered offensive, because they are not a threat. She said they have the same message as “Black Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter.”

“I think it’s supposed to mean that white people want to direct attention to injustices and inequalities that they face, just like police brutality within the black lives matter movement,” she said.

Tori Franklin, Georgia State sophomore and nutrition major, never noticed the actual stickers, just the flyers for anti-racist demonstrations. She said she felt the message behind the stickers could have been a genuine call for attention to white issues, but they probably came out of ignorance.

“I feel like it’s maybe not coming from a place of ‘we’re more important; you’re more important.’ I feel like it’s coming from a place of ignorance like they don’t understand what it’s like to be a minority. They try to say ‘well I have problems too’, but it’s not the same thing.”

An anti-racism rally was held by the Progressive Student Alliance, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and The International Socialist Organization on Tuesday, Nov. 10th, in response to the stickers. The rally attracted an array of people, some of whom shared speeches or stories about their experiences.

Julia White, a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, said she feels the stickers support a white supremacist agenda.

“It just means that black lives are useless, they don’t mean anything, so that’s why we’re out here, like, reminding everybody that black lives do matter and that we’re not going to tolerate white supremacy on this campus,” she said.

The main speaker at the anti-racist rally and Chairperson for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Seyoum Bey said the coalition of the three organizations found over 70 stickers. These stickers are “white lives matter stickers” as well as stickers depicting the celtic cross and “good night left side.”

Bey believes that these stickers will lead to larger demonstrations of similar sentiments if they are not dealt with.

“Any form of white supremacy, any form of any type of organizing will eventually grow if it’s not nipped in the bud at the beginning,” he said.

Bey also discussed a meeting held by the Black Student Alliance that was “infiltrated” by white supremacists who claimed that black people have not made any relevant contributions to history.

Bey met with the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Darryl Holloman, in hopes of having Georgia State’s support in removing the stickers, but it didn’t go as he’d hoped.

“After speaking with him, his position was that this is a public campus, and at a public campus, at a public university, we cannot infringe on people’s’ ideologies, despite it promoting white supremacy. He said it wouldn’t be fair if Patrick Sharp came up to him and said ‘The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is saying things I don’t like so can you do something about it?’” Bey said.

“So by not acknowledging this issue, we feel like the university is engaging in hypocrisy and they’re perpetuating the same notions that white dominated societies perpetuates about black people just in general.”

The Black Lives Matter movement was created by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in 2013 as a response to violence against black people, according to USA Today. However, some people have felt excluded and/or threatened by this message.

A Facebook page by the name of White Lives Matter uses its platform to bring attention to issues affecting white people, such as black-on-white crime. They argue that white people are the most discriminated against because of their skin color, and their hardships are ignored in favor of people of color, particularly black people.

According to BBC, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called the Black Lives Matter movement a “hate group” and believes the movement supports the killing of police officers.

Many people have spoken out in attempts to share their interpretation of the Black Lives Matter movement, including President Obama, who was quoted on PBS.

“I think everybody understands all lives matter,” Obama said. “I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ was not because they were suggesting nobody else’s lives matter. Rather, what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that’s happening in the African-American community that’s not happening in other communities.”

For now, white lives matter stickers will continue to be posted around campus, and anti-racist demonstrations will continue to be held in response to them.

[Maceman]

Why shouldn’t there be a “whites only” safe space at colleges so that those who “identify as white” have a place to get away from the constant offensive haranguing, harassment and bullying by privileged racist students and faculty members “of color” who threaten and intimidate white students and make them feel bad about their melanin-deficient skin tone?

[Twotone]

These little children really have some growing up to do.

[Zeneta]

“Ghosts crowd the young child’s,
Fragile eggshell mind”

[Finatic]

Blood in the streets of the town New Haven....

[I want the USA back]

Reason: they do not value white lives. Killing white cops. Attacking elderly whites with the knockout “game”. Rapes. Theft. Murder.

[MrB]

Would they also be “safe” from inter-racial crime, assault, and rape in these proposed spaces?

[butlerweave]

but White’s Money does matter or Professors work for free

[Noumenon]

“The negroes in the forest,
brightly feathered.”

[Zeneta]

I’ll tell you about Texas radio and the big beat

[Uncle Miltie]

#WhiteLivesDontMatter

Try that out everywhere the #BlackLivesMatter guys show up. See what happens.

[Zeneta]

Blood will be born in the birth of a nation

[Maceman]

>Would they also be “safe” from inter-racial crime, assault, and rape in these proposed spaces?

Good question.

If I were in college today, I would be an active anti-racist activist, and I would be up the administration's butts with demands for white "safe spaces," the complete elimination of affirmative action, and the immediate firing of any faculty member or college official who supported or ran any kind of "white privilege" class or training. I would be collecting signatures of support from white students fed up with the BLM crap, and I would definitely be filing criminal complaints against any BLM fascist who so much as looked at me cross-eyed.

So any inter-racial crime, assault, and rape in these proposed spaces would not only be reported to the police, but would trigger class boycotts, student demonstrations and administration building take-overs.

The racist left fascists have started this, and they need to be met with aggressive and loud counter action.

[Zeneta]

Very clever.

[MortMan]

"I feel like it's maybe not coming from a place of 'we're more important; you're more important.' I feel like it's coming from a place of ignorance like they don't understand what it's like to be a minority. They try to say 'well I have problems too', but it's not the same thing."

Tori Franklin feels something. She should try thinking, and observing, instead.

"Black Lives Matters" is explicitly threatening whites. They explicitly threaten anyone who would say that "all lives matters". But, young Ms. Franklin believes that the movement is about how these twinkies are treated because they are minorities.

No, the reaction to BLM is predicated on how they, themselves, act and treat other people who may or may not agree with them. BLM is racist. Ridicule of BLM, therefore, is anti-racism.

[MrB]

These colleges would collapse if the people they were complaining about simply refused to participate (send their money).

[TexasCajun]

#WhiteSafePlaceMatters

[MortMan]

"Any form of white supremacy, any form of any type of organizing will eventually grow if it's not nipped in the bud at the beginning," he said.

Seyoum Bey obviously has no sense of irony. I wonder if he believes the same holds true for black supremacy?

[Oldexpat]

We are going to start making a white t-shirt with white letters proclaiming white lives matter..support white privilege. The letters will be woven into the fabric so that they are nearly impossible to read. So just wearing a white t-shirt will show your solidarity with the movement.

[EDINVA]

I’d like to see some “Black Lives Matter” stickers and protesters at the Planned Parenthood abortion clinics.