Progressives TodayOver the last week, there have been 2 separate instances of UC Berkeley students forming blockades across one the main entrances to the campus to raise awareness and protest, uhhh, stuff, or something. Because the system!
The Daily Californian reports:
A group of about 50 students and some community members gathered at Sather Gate on Tuesday, (April 14th,) protesting police brutality and what they called a hostile campus atmosphere for the underrepresented minority population.
Initially led by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, the protest was organized as part of a series of coordinated responses nationwide to police brutality.
More than 50 individuals blocked pedestrian traffic through the passageway under Sather Gate.
On a few occasions, passers-by’s attempts to break through the blockade were met with violent responses. UCPD spokesperson Lt. Marc DeCoulode said there were three reports of assault during the protest, while no arrests were made.
One protester referred to black students as “endangered species” while others voiced their displeasure at the display of intolerance. “This type of thoughtless, angry protesting is the essence of the problem of campus climate,” student Nicolas Jaber said. “As long as students resort to these tactics, we will never be able to come together and have a thoughtful discourse about race and gender.”
In the video posted by the Daily Californian, the wackjobs are heard chanting “UC BERKELEY’S RACIST AS HELL! SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN!” Supposed student Jonathan Verdugo says they are “raising solidarity”, while getting into physical encounters with students trying to pass to make it to their class, including minorities and one student who appears to have just given blood. Verdugo goes on to identify himself as an illegal alien. “Most of the people honestly do understand that the idea behind the blockade is to disrupt business as usual, and that’s why its an inconvenience, it’s purposely doing so, in order to convince people to recognize the inconvenience that black youth and people of color face on a daily basis” says Sierra Barton. Gabrielle Shuman adds “They’re literally doing what we’re talking about, in trying to jump over us and ignoring us… They feel that entitled that they don’t need to listen to what we’re saying, so honestly, it’s frustrating”
The protesters ceased their blockade at about 4:00 PM, when groups of students trying to get to class started bull rushing the line of arm-linked wackjobs.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The professional protesters gathered up again on Saturday, April 18th, this time lead by the Black Student Union.
After assembling in front of Sproul Hall holding Black Lives Matter signs and speaking into megaphones, the students marched to Sather Gate about 11:30 a.m. For more than an hour, they remained lined up in front of the gate, tying rope across it. By about 1 p.m., they reopened the gate.
“This inconvenience is nothing compared to the inconvenience that black students feel on this campus,” said Myles Santifer, chair of the BSU and a UC Berkeley junior.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people streamed through campus for Cal Day, an annual event held to showcase the campus, particularly to prospective students and parents. Although a few people attempted to push through the gate — one man tripped as he tried to struggle through — most people walked around it.”
In addition to protesting in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, which emerged after police killings of unarmed black men in various places across the country, the students spoke of 10 demands made by the BSU to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks. Released last month, the demands include proposals to hire two full-time black admissions staff members and to rename Barrows Hall to honor Assata Shakur, an activist who has been dubbed a terrorist by the FBI.
Note the “Assata Taught Me” shirt. This is in reference to the above mentioned Assata Shakur. Shakur was a militant Black Panther activist who was involved in shootouts with police, and indicted on robbery and kidnapping charges. In all, she was found guilty of Murder 1 and seven other felonies. She was sentenced prison, only to be broken out by armed members of the Black Liberation Army, who took hostages and stole a van. Shakur eventually fled to Cuba, where she supposedly remains today. This is the “hero” these morons want to name a building after.
http://www.progressivestoday.com/disturbing-new-aggressive-blockade-trend-uc-berkeley/