A clip of white college students mocking a Black woman was included in a video montage praising anti-“woke” college students at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
The original video, which was filmed at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Mississippi, went viral this spring. In it, a white male counterprotester mocks a Black woman by making monkey sounds, while others gesture and yell in her direction.
The clip included in the montage did not show anyone making obscene or racist gestures but was easily recognizable as being from the high-profile incident, which was widely condemned.
“Not all college students have gone woke. They should be celebrated,” the narrator says in the RNC video.
Neither the Trump campaign nor a spokesperson for the RNC responded to HuffPost’s request for comment.
University chancellor Glenn Boyce said in a statement at the time that the students’ actions displayed “hostility and racist overtones.”
“As a public institution, we are committed to supporting the rights of our students, faculty, and employees to express their views in a respectful manner and to assemble peacefully as guaranteed by the First Amendment,” he said. “However, some individuals at the demonstration acted in ways that conflict with our university’s values.”
One of the students was kicked out of his fraternity following the incident, Mississippi Free Press reported. The university also launched a conduct investigation into an unnamed student after the protest, according to Time.
Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika told HuffPost that the video shown at the RNC pushed further division.
“Donald Trump promised unity at his convention. Instead, he delivered bigotry, division, and straight-up racism that turned dog whistles into bullhorns,” Chitika said. “The video elevated by Trump and his RNC is beneath the office of the President, and it’s proof that their empty pandering to voters of color is nothing more than lip service to paper over decades of racism.”
