Student arrested for wearing gorilla mask to Black Lives Matter rally cleared of most charges

NBC News ^ | 07/17/2019 | By Janelle Griffith

[Responsibility2nd]

A former East Tennessee State University student who police said disrupted an on-campus Black Lives Matter rally while wearing a gorilla mask and dangling bananas on ropes was cleared of most charges Wednesday.

A jury found Tristan Rettke guilty of one misdemeanor count of disrupting a meeting, and not guilty of two counts each of civil rights intimidation and disorderly conduct, according to NBC affiliate WCYB. The jury recommended a $500 fine.

Rettke was arrested for attending the Sept. 28, 2016 protest on ETSU's Johnson City campus while barefoot, dressed in overalls, wearing a gorilla mask and dangling bananas tied with rope.

Witnesses who had been participants in the rally testified that Rettke used racial slurs, intimidated them and made them fearful, according to the station.

[Responsibility2nd]

Rettke was arrested in a "Free Speech Zone" at campus.

[thesharkboy]

guilty of one misdemeanor count of disrupting a meeting

How many leftists have been involved in disrupting speeches by conservatives, and have not been charged for it?

[Spruce]

Well he did make them fearful.

[Responsibility2nd]

Fearful?

Bananas on a rope made them fearful?

^{Eastern Tennessee State University student disrupted an on-campus Black Lives Matter rally while wearing a gorilla mask and carrying a rope and bananas.Tony Casey / Johnson City Press}

[P-Marlowe]

So are they suggesting that black people are like gorillas? If dressing up like a gorilla is somehow racist, then those who claim that it is offensive must be equating black people with lower forms of life.

The real racists are the people who are offended. That somehow a white person dressing up like a gorilla is guilty of cultural appropriation.

[Hoffer Rand]

Oh yeah, totally analogous to WWII and the D-Day invasion. /s

[albie]

...”all lives don’t” wouldn’t make one fearful?!

[TomServo]

The dude looks like a cro magnon. Feel kinda sorry sorry for him. Who names a guy, “Tristan”?

[Williams]

Good God!

[colorado tanker]

The don’t look very fearful to me. He ought to appeal on First Amendment grounds.

[antidemoncrat]

Sounds like he was looking to get offed.

[Sacajaweau]

But burn the American Flag...and you’re Home Free.

[ml/nj]

Who names a guy, “Tristan”?

An Opera fan.

ML/NJ

[Kickass Conservative]

We already have Unconstitutional Hate Crime Laws.

I guess it’s time for some Unconstitutional Stupid Laws.

Hate is a motive, not a Crime.

Stupidity is just an excuse, or a Democrat’s Political Platform.

[Darteaus94025]

Is he running for governor of Virginia?

[Uncle Miltie]

[Uncle Miltie]

I think I’m sophisticated
‘Cos I’m living my life like a good homosapien
But all around me everybody’s multiplying
Till they’re walking round like flies man
So I’m no better than the animals sitting in their cages
In the zoo man
‘Cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees
I am an ape man
I think I’m so educated and I’m so civilized
‘Cos I’m a strict vegetarian
But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
And the crazy politicians
I don’t feel safe in this world no more
I don’t want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man
I’m an ape man I’m a King Kong man I’m ape ape man
I’m an ape man
‘Cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
I am an ape man
In man’s evolution he has created the cities and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And I’d be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle
‘Cos the only time that I feel at ease
Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man
I’m an ape, I’m an ape ape man, I’m an ape man
I’m a King Kong man, I’m a voo-doo man
I’m an ape man
I look out my window, but I can’t see the sky
‘Cos the air pollution is fogging up my eyes
I want to get out of this city alive
And make like an ape man
Come and love me, be my ape man girl
And we will be so happy in my ape man world
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, I’m an ape man
I’m a King Kong man, I’m a voo-doo man
I’m an ape man
I’ll be your Tarzan, you’ll be my Jane
I’ll keep you warm and you’ll keep me sane
And we’ll sit in the trees and eat bananas all day
Just like an ape man
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, I’m an ape man
I’m a King Kong man, I’m a voo-doo man
I’m an ape man.
I don’t feel safe in this world no more
I don’t want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore
And make like an ape man.

[Uncle Miltie]

Kinks be raciss.

[hanamizu]

...”all lives don’t” wouldn’t make one fearful?!

---

That bothered me too, but then I realized he was saying “Black Lives Matter” does not mean “All lives Don’t Matter” which is a bit of an upgrade to what they were saying a couple of years ago.

[Drew68]

A jury found Tristan Rettke guilty of one misdemeanor count of disrupting a meeting

This is a crime? Seems to be selectively enforced.