The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity suspended its chapter at the University of Georgia and removed four of its members after a video showed them giggling about beating black people and telling them to ‘pick their cotton.
The shocking video – which was widely circulated on Friday – shows a white fraternity brother ‘whipping’ another as he tells him to pick cotton and calls him a ‘b***h.’
The man getting beat shouts that he isn’t ‘black’ as the cameraman tells the whipper that he isn’t using the ‘right word.’
Shocking video – which was widely circulated on Friday – shows a white fraternity brother ‘whipping’ another as he tells him to pick cotton and calls him a ‘b***h’
The man doing the faux whipping then changes his phrase to ‘pick my cotton n****r’ as the brief clip comes to a close. Another student is seen drinking in the video, but he just laughs at all the hoopla.
The footage quickly became viral with many students, alum and social media users blasting the actions of the men as racist and extremely offensive.
The Student Government Association at the university released a statement condemning the fraternity chapter for ‘behavior that mocks the suffering of enslaved people.’
Both the national chapter of TKE and UGA rushed to respond to inquiries pertaining to the status of the students. TKE announced that it had conducted a ‘thorough investigation’.
The man getting beat shouts that he isn’t ‘black’ as the cameraman tells the whipper that he isn’t using the ‘right word.’ The man doing the faux whipping then changes his phrase to ‘pick my cotton n****r’ as the brief clip comes to a close
Tau Kappa Epsilon released a statement saying that the organization is ‘disgusted, appalled and angered’ by the video, adding that they do not tolerate ‘racist, discriminatory and/or offensive’ actions.
‘Our investigation showed this was a non-TKE function and did not take place on any chapter premise,’ the fraternity said. ‘These four individuals acted outside the expectations of our membership and their chapter and therefore were removed from both.’
They continued: ‘As such, at 5p.m. today, March 23, 2019, the chapter followed the prescribed procedures and have officially expelled each of the four individual men involved for their actions.
Tau Kappa Epsilon released a statement saying that the organization is ‘disgusted, appalled and angered’ by the video, adding that they do not tolerate ‘racist, discriminatory and/or offensive’ actions
UGA took to their Twitter to share that ‘the fraternity has been suspended by its national organization.’ They spent most of Saturday responding to irate users affiliated with the school.
The university said that it condemns racism in the strongest terms, adding ‘racism has no place on our campus.’
‘Whenever we receive complaints of racist or discriminatory conduct, we refer such matters to our Equal Opportunity Office in accordance with applicable laws and policies,’ UGA also stated.
UGA took to their Twitter to share that ‘the fraternity has been suspended by its national organization’
The university said that it condemns racism in the strongest terms, adding ‘racism has no place on our campus’
‘Whenever we receive complaints of racist or discriminatory conduct, we refer such matters to our Equal Opportunity Office in accordance with applicable laws and policies,’ UGA also stated
But many took issue with the school’s now public position, sharing screengrabs of a conversation that included the person who initially shared the video.
‘Keep in mind I reported it to UGA equal opportunity office and they said, “I don’t see the big deal. You guys had a black president 2 years ago,”‘ the texts from the woman reads. She could be alluding to the school’s student government association, which had an all black executive officer board a few years ago. The board is comprised of three positions.
She continued: ‘The whole equal opportunity board is white rip. “Also please do not spread this video. We do not need a bad name in this university.” That’s why I’m sending it around.’
But many took issue with the school’s now public position, sharing screengrabs of a conversation that included the person who initially shared the video
The staff page for UGA’s Equal Opportunity Office does indicate that the director is a black woman and that there is at least one more black woman on the six-person team.
The school’s local NAACP chapter released a statement asking for the school to discipline the students ‘accordingly’.
They added that they hoped ‘the university recognizes that even though we’ve made great strides toward inclusivity, there is still much more work to be done.’
‘This video only touches the surface on the long history of racism that has exited on this campus and within the state of Georgia,’ the statement continued. ‘We hope that the university will take action and in the event that it doesn’t, we will continue to be a voice for students of color on this campus.’
The school’s local NAACP chapter released a statement asking for the school to discipline the students ‘accordingly’