She wanted to criticize Black Lives Matter in a college speech. A protest shut her down.
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The Facebook event invitation left little doubt about the protesters’ feelings toward pro-police speaker Heather Mac Donald.
They accused her of “neglecting the state sponsored genocide committed against black people” and said she represented “white supremacist and fascist ideologies.”
And just in case people didn’t get the point, organizers photo-shopped devil horns onto her picture.
The last words on the invite, which has since been deleted, offered instructions to like-minded Claremont McKenna College students and others: Show up wearing black and “bring your comrades, because we’re shutting this down.”
They were true to their word. On Thursday evening, about 250 protesters chanted “black lives matter” and other, more choice phrases at the entrance to the Athenaeum, a campus building where Mac Donald was slated to speak, according to a YouTube video of the demonstration. (Warning, it contains strong language.)
Blocking buildings on the California campus is an arrest-able offense, but seeing the sizable crowd, campus officials decided not to force the issue and instead live-streamed Mac Donald’s event.
“We jointly concluded that any forced interventions or arrests would have created unsafe conditions for students, faculty, staff, and guests,” Claremont McKenna College President Hiram E. Chodosh said Friday in a statement. “I take full responsibility for the decision to err on the side of these overriding safety considerations.”
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