Black Lives Matter Activists Vandalize A National Police Week Display Honoring Cops
Black Lives Matter activists at Dartmouth College tore down a National Police Week display yesterday, vandalizing a memorial to cops killed during service that was put up by another student group, College Republicans.
The Black Lives Matter Group took down College Republicans’ posters for “Blue Lives Matter” and, according to the Washington Times, replaced the memorial with “four fliers that said, ‘You cannot co-opt the movement against state violence to memorialize its perpetrators. #blacklivesmatter.'”
The College Republicans group had reserved the poster space about three weeks prior to this event.
The email to campus sent out at 11:34 a.m. was signed by Hanlon, Provost Dever, Dean Biron and Vice Provost Ameer pic.twitter.com/F4OHdxXHDy
— The Dartmouth (@thedartmouth) May 15, 2016
Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon sent out an email to all students detailing the removal of the Blue Lives Matter posters by the Black Lives Matter activists as a violation of the College Republicans’ freedom of expression.
While the college intervened and those students involved in this Black Lives Matter protest are facing disciplinary action for the attack on College Republicans’ freedom of speech, the administration was not able to act quickly enough.
Indeed, College Republicans had already responded to the vandalism by Black Lives Matter by calling it an attack on free speech and alleged that the college administrators were unwilling to act because they were “afraid of taking a political stance.”
They said, “Today our freedom of speech was violated by our fellow students while the administration stood idly by. We spent three weeks getting our poster remembering fallen men and women of law enforcement approved through the proper administrative channels. Almost as soon as it was posted […], it was torn down and replaced with Black Lives Matter posters. [Administrators were] unwilling to remove the posters as it was afraid of taking a political stance. There is, however, nothing political about standing up for freedom of speech, our First Amendment right.”
School administrators had allegedly advised College Republicans to remain silent after the Black Lives Matter group vandalized their display because taking it down immediately would seem like “taking a political stance.”
The Black Lives Matter posters were eventually taken down overnight by staff, and College Republicans were allowed to put up their Blue Lives Matter poster up once more.
This slow action of the college to respond to College Republicans’ plea in favor of Blue Lives Matter was further exacerbated when it was found that the college administrators had granted express overnight permission for Black Lives Matter to set up posters nearby while it had taken the three weeks to give permission to College Republicans.
In an open letter to Dartmouth’s president and Board of Trustees, College Republicans wrote, according to the Washington Times, “All we ask is that the protections and freedoms of self-expression afforded to other student organizations be extended to us. We do not see the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements as mutually exclusive.”
this is the wildest shit. white folks here know they bold as hell. gtfoh pic.twitter.com/s56cVZ0pEV
— Joel (@joekool901) May 13, 2016
The Black Lives Matter group, on the other hand, had a different argument. The memorial and the Blue Lives Matter posters represented a violent narrative that condoned the negative impact the law enforcement has had upon people of color.
“It was taken down by students and replaced because it actively co-opted a movement that is supposed to comment on police brutality against black individuals in this country,” a student told the school newspaper, “It took that and by framing that as ‘Blue Lives Matter,’ it normalizes and naturalizes violence against people of color in this country. And that is not okay. That is in no way okay.”
To this, College Republicans responded in their open letter, “It is possible to recognize the service and contributions of law enforcement officers while simultaneously pushing for reform to correct the grave mistakes of the small minority of officers. On National Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, we just hoped to highlight the monumental sacrifices made by these officers to protect us every day.”
And this call of Black Lives Matter against memorializing the law enforcement, combined with College Republicans’ refusal to back down and their own calls for a combination in the Blue Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter, seems to be the beginning of an important dialogue both within and without Dartmouth.
[Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images]
