This past Tuesday, our university was visited by a White House correspondent from the Gateway Pundit, Lucian Wintrich, who planned to give a speech titled “It Is Ok To Be White”. Wintrich was invited to the university by the UConn College Republicans as a speaker for their meeting. Like any other organization on campus, College Republicans had every right to rent a room on campus and invite their preferred speaker. However, I, like many other students, was both intrigued and shocked when we saw the flyer around campus promoting the event.
Due to the heavy and hostile political environment we currently live in, my first reaction to the flyer was anger. Both the title and the art on the flyer suggested that the DOMINANT race in our society was facing oppression or lack of acceptance and therefore needed to have a conversation to reassure themselves how “OK” it is for them to be who they are without any guilt. I was quite confused as to why the conversation was even necessary if white people have never been the victims.
As a Latina on this campus who struggles to feel accepted in a predominantly white institution like UConn, I really wanted to see what educational points Wintrich could possibly make. When I arrived, I was thrilled to see so many people both inside and out of the event protesting. People of all backgrounds were chanting and holding signs that read “It is not ok to be racist” and “I don’t stand with hate”. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get inside because it was full to capacity, however I stayed outside and watched the event on Facebook Live.
For the duration of Wintrich’s speech, he made claims that were not supported by factual evidence therefore the audience paid him zero mind. From what I could see from the live stream, people were constantly yelling at him and preventing him from speaking. Although we should engage in educational discourse with people we don’t disagree with, we shouldn’t insist on insulting them simply because we don’t like what they’re saying. Instead of belittling, we should be determined on educating those that make these outlandish and hateful claims.
The event quickly took a drastic turn as most of us have seen all over the news. I think it is safe to say that the university did not handle this event correctly. For starters, the administration should have either delayed the event, had more control over the conversation, or asked the organization to promote it in a different manner. Although I agree that the university should encourage free speech and provide a platform for the exchange of opinions, the way this event was promoted was clearly a red flag. The administration knows that this campus is filled with student leaders who were not going to stay quiet, therefore they should have taken matters a bit more seriously.
As someone who has done their best to be informed and attend social activism events on campus, I can honestly say that we, as students and protestors, seemed to have failed to get our point across. It is always amazing to feel the energy emitted at a protest where people are passionate about what they’re talking about, however it is always alarming to see people get violent. As a protester outside, I witnessed people banging on the doors of OUR academic building and even breaking windows. As scholars at this university, we should know how to channel our anger. Within our classrooms, we have been taught to have professional discussions about hot button issues without damaging university property. During my time here at UConn we have had some amazing student-led protests/rallies where we have made demands of the university and accomplished our goals… yet, I didn’t see that on Tuesday night.
People in our society have began to label liberals as hot-headed, irrational, closed-minded and violent. This is exactly what Wintrich and other conservatives in the White House that will not be named expect of us. The way I see it, Wintrich and his supporters wanted to push buttons and call attention and that’s exactly what we gave them. We allowed them to trigger us to the point where some of us acted irrationally. I left that protest not feeling accomplished, but instead upset seeing students be arrested for their actions. I think as students we need to demand the university takes more responsibility with what happens on this campus. We need to demand that they control the advertisement placed around campus as well as the events that occur, especially when people feel unsafe.
I urge you all to attend the student-led March for Action below and channel the anger you may feel to make demands from our administration.
Cover Source: #ItIsOkToBe