Now that we've compared some rouge black grad student on a hunger strike sparked by the existence of a swastika (made out of feces) to the Little Rock Five and the murder of Medgar Evers, we can seamlessly transition to comparing the rational dissent of the events that recently transpired in Mizzu to conscionable opposition of individual freedom in America...

If we are to speculate which posters may or may not have been present if given the opportunity to attend landmark moments in American history, based solely on the context of posts made on this messageboard over the years, I would instantly rule out Alan Swank as one to stand infront of a bayonet for individual freedom.

On a separate note,

I actually rode a bicycle across the state of Missouri several years ago. Over the course of several days, every white person I encountered seemed content with the secret state policies to oppress the blacks there.

I assume all the whites on this messageboard got an invite to attend the annual secret convening of whites with the intent to conspire against blacks meeting later this year.

If you couldn't pick up on the sarcasm:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/10356

P.S.

Have they apprehended the outlaw who yelled "racial slurs" from his pickup truck yet? Surely East St. Louis is losing sleep over the thought of such an outlaw making his way to their neighborhood.

Every time you post publicly, the value of my degree declines. Scare quotes around "racial slurs." Are you honestly questioning whether racism exists in Missouri, of all places?

race riots in Athens? Athens, Ohio? I was not aware.

Not sure that drawing parallels between an Irish Catholic university's choice of mascot, and a racial slur that has, for generations, been used to devalue a people that our own constitution deemed less than human is helping your case here.

The history of our nation is littered with laws--actual policy--designed to keep black americans from gaining access to the same opportunities as their white counterparts. That's not the context that "Fighting Irish" exists in. It is the context the "racial slurs" you're trivializing exist in.

But keep on fighting the good fight. 300 years of trying to cripple the black man in America, and now less than 70 years from Jim Crow it's unacceptable if he walks with a limp.

My point in bringing a caricature of an Irish person into this discussion and relating it to your personal attack, is that there is a distinction between generically insulting someone and personally attacking someone.

From my general life experience, black culture's collective response to generic insults dwarf any response by a white culture's collective response to generic insults. In other words, whites just aren't interested in hunger striking because some other white guy got called a name that could be applied to all white guys of the same group. I would speculate that you could spray paint a swastika on every dorm room door at NYU and not a Jew among them would venture to hunger strike for the University President's dismissal.

Interestingly enough, consider your personal attack of me:

If the guy in the truck had said, "Every time you speak in class, the value of my degree declines", would the outcome be the same? If he was speaking to a group of blacks, my personal opinion is yes, the outcome is the same. If he was speaking to a group of jewish kids, my personal opinion is no.

Though not its intent by the guy in the truck, I would speculate that the blacks in this scenario label this a "racial slur" AND a symbol of oppression. While the jewish kids look around at each other and simply ask, "did you know that guy?"

Two quick comments before I head off to the football game:

1. I was in Athens for most of the 60s and some of the 70s, and I don't remember any "race riots." Dorms were shut down after Vietnam war protests in the spring of 1970. I was here then in graduate school. I also remember during my time in Athens there were some protests by an African American group (I believe it might have been called the Black Student Union), and there may have been a sit-in in the Cutler Hall. I can't remember exactly what they were protesting, but I vaguely remember it might have had something to do with not having institutional support for black groups and desire to have an African American studies department. If someone remembers any riots over racial issues or tensions, please correct me. But to the best of my knowledge there were none.

2. It's a little too simple to say that African Americans were deemed by the Constitution to be less than whole people. It's a very complex subject. The Founding Fathers were conflicted on the issue of slavery, which they purposely never mentioned in the Constitution, unlike the constitution of the Confederate States of America. The Constitution expressly forbid further slave trade after 1808.

The 3/5th provision is widely misunderstood. The southern states wanted slaves to count as whole persons because they would increase their representation in Congress. The northern states initially wanted slaves not to count at all. The 3/5 provision was a compromise between those two objectives. It reads as follows: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." So, free persons, including free blacks in the North, are counted as whole persons, indentured servants are counted as whole persons, Indians (unless taxed) are not counted at all, and slaves are counted as three-fifths of a person so as not to give the Slavocracy (as it was sometimes called in the North) even more representation in the House of Representatives.

Ok, so it sounds like whoever told me about "race riots" was combining at least two separate events. Whether that was due to old age or mind-altering substances only God knows :P

There were also non-violent protests in the mid-70's when the People's Republic of China sent an advance team to checkout the University as one of the first schools in America to send its students. Of course that was when the U.S./China relations first started to thaw. The protests were by the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and other Marxist groups who thought Mao's version of Communism was too tame. That is not a joke.

My dad graduated in '72 so he was in Athens during the height of protests against Vietnam. He lived in what is now the Osteopathic medicine building and said that the tear gas would roll down the hill from uptown and you'd catch it if you had your windows open.

My freshman year was 2002 so I saw the protests of the Iraq war.

I was at O.U. in the early/mid 1970's.

I met a lot of guys who were at O.U. in 1970.
There were National Guard Troops in town,but their weapons weren't loaded.
There were riots uptown and I believe they did start a fire in the College Bookstore.

When I was there,there were some protests,especially in the Spring,but nothing major.

The biggest "riot" I saw was a snowball fight that started between 2 dorms on the East Green and escalated to at least a thousand students "snowballing" (if that's a word)the Beta's house.
The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas.

There were some "issues' with the pledges for 1 black fraternity.
A couple of times a quarter they would march their pledges into the cafeteria chained together.Then they would have them take students trays of food if they were eating alone and left them unattended.
A lot of students,white and black had a problem with them.

You have my metaphor completely backwards and generally misconstrued. I would apologize for the confusion if I genuinely believed you had any intention of comprehending what I was attempting to communicate.

You and minority activists are pulling the rope in this metaphor. And the "white man" isn't picking up the rope and pulling back because they don't want to lose their job to a PC mob (ie Mizzu's Prez) if they don't have to. I was comparing tug of war "victories" like the one in Mizzu to that of a tug of war game where there was no one else on the other side. Ultimately a meaningless victory.

I could sit here all day and lecture you on "racism" if you'd be so open minded to listen. But contrary to what your post suggests, it's the fact that you don't want to listen that the "racial" divide still exists.

Bring up all of your examples of perceived "racism". Discount numerous instances of mental illness. And dismiss incidents like the two off duty black police officers who recently shot and killed a 6 year old white boy. Dismiss these things and I'm still telling you there's no grand conspiracy in this country to oppress blacks.

Yea. Turns out the oppressed young man on the hunger strike is extremely wealthy.

Johnathan Butler is a member of a prominent Omaha family. The newspaper says Butler’s father is Eric L. Butler, executive vice president for sales and marketing for the Union Pacific Railroad. His 2014 compensation was $8.4 million, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It's extremely tough being oppressed like this! You can't make this stuff up. LMAO