The Encounter
During this time two years ago, I was faced with the aftermath of an encounter that would leave an everlasting impact on me. The College Republicans at WCU brought Milo Yiannopoulos to campus. This event was limited to a few and the College Republicans made sure to keep it a secret. Milo Yiannopoulos is also known as the Dangerous Faggot. He's a British, gay, conservative "public speaker" who gets brought to college campuses to spark tensions. I heard about the event and was the last to gain entry. His talking points for this session consisted of saying wealth gaps were a myth, offensive remarks towards Feminism, Islam, and the Black Lives Matter movement. He showed why the integrity of America is poor and gave poor solutions to problems he's never been faced with. I sat around this room watching this man spew information filled with biased opinions. I see "my peers" engulfed in his words. For them, this man, the Dangerous Faggot, was someone they looked up to. He was their motivational speaker, someone who spoke encouragement into their life. In this moment at Western Carolina University, this man and his radical rhetoric was their Almighty.
At the end of his presentation, Yiannopoulos allowed for questions and comments from the crowd. Many people went up to give him moments of praise, but I went up to the mic with intentions some gaining clarity about what he presented. My first question simply asked if he believed that men and women were equal. Before I could get through the question the crowd yelled "triggered" as if we were all in an elementary school classroom. The next question centered around America being built off of the backs of the minorities of this country and why he thought it was so great. His rebuttal lacked substance and ran somewhere along the lines of "Black people should vote for Republicans" as if that was going to fix the anger flooding the streets of Charlotte, NC at the time. Over the next couple of days videos began flooding the internet titled "Milo Effortlessly Shut Down Black Feminist NAACP President". Everything in a title to rally up the racist and sexist supporters that blindly follow his lead, including those that attend WCU.
This single video led to over 800 friend requests from those agreeing with my stance and those looking to vandalize my personal page with negativity and over 1,000 private messages that ranged from support from different countries, rape threats, dirty and idiotic insults, questions regarding my blackness, and of course, extremist conservatives who wanted to shove their Trump support down my throat. The hate messages came from men of all shades and white women. People with daughters. People that are law enforcement and teachers. A white woman with mixed daughters told me how I was making her kid's life harder and that Snoop Dog was single handily responsible for the deaths of 1 million black people (pictured below).
Despite all of the negativity that followed, I was able to have meaningful and productive conversations with people on both sides of the spectrum. Those who wanted to know more about my stance or the presentation by Milo. I appreciated those seeking understanding and discussion the most.
For almost a year, I woke up almost every morning to messages that attacked my intellect, my beliefs, and my person. Most of the messages were easily brushed off but every once in a while a message was received that chipped away at my very being. Those who loved the liberties that America is said to offer were the same ones wishing to strip me of mine. One white male told me that if I didn't like the freedom I had here then I needed to go to a country where women were getting their heads chopped off. They don't realize that by simply implying such a thing because they didn't like or agree with what I had said held the same mindset of those in other countries that oppressed women. The attacks they sent out sought to break my spirit and to take away my voice. As people we have a hard time taking the past and applying it to the present day. If we do that then we can realize that there hasn't been a dramatic change. Because I truly believe that my thoughts, opinions, and stances matter, I will never allow for anyone or anything to deter me from my path to make a better society for the next generations to come.
At the end of his presentation, Yiannopoulos allowed for questions and comments from the crowd. Many people went up to give him moments of praise, but I went up to the mic with intentions some gaining clarity about what he presented. My first question simply asked if he believed that men and women were equal. Before I could get through the question the crowd yelled "triggered" as if we were all in an elementary school classroom. The next question centered around America being built off of the backs of the minorities of this country and why he thought it was so great. His rebuttal lacked substance and ran somewhere along the lines of "Black people should vote for Republicans" as if that was going to fix the anger flooding the streets of Charlotte, NC at the time. Over the next couple of days videos began flooding the internet titled "Milo Effortlessly Shut Down Black Feminist NAACP President". Everything in a title to rally up the racist and sexist supporters that blindly follow his lead, including those that attend WCU.
This single video led to over 800 friend requests from those agreeing with my stance and those looking to vandalize my personal page with negativity and over 1,000 private messages that ranged from support from different countries, rape threats, dirty and idiotic insults, questions regarding my blackness, and of course, extremist conservatives who wanted to shove their Trump support down my throat. The hate messages came from men of all shades and white women. People with daughters. People that are law enforcement and teachers. A white woman with mixed daughters told me how I was making her kid's life harder and that Snoop Dog was single handily responsible for the deaths of 1 million black people (pictured below).
For almost a year, I woke up almost every morning to messages that attacked my intellect, my beliefs, and my person. Most of the messages were easily brushed off but every once in a while a message was received that chipped away at my very being. Those who loved the liberties that America is said to offer were the same ones wishing to strip me of mine. One white male told me that if I didn't like the freedom I had here then I needed to go to a country where women were getting their heads chopped off. They don't realize that by simply implying such a thing because they didn't like or agree with what I had said held the same mindset of those in other countries that oppressed women. The attacks they sent out sought to break my spirit and to take away my voice. As people we have a hard time taking the past and applying it to the present day. If we do that then we can realize that there hasn't been a dramatic change. Because I truly believe that my thoughts, opinions, and stances matter, I will never allow for anyone or anything to deter me from my path to make a better society for the next generations to come.
Comments
Post a Comment