This is in response to a Facebook post that my alma mater, Winthrop College (nka Winthrop University) put up back in early December. Â The post seen below has since been removed from their page.
"Winthrop students held a 'die in' Tuesday afternoon on Scholars Walk to bring attention to the recent deaths of African-American men by police officers."
My first reaction to this was anger.  I immediately posted that I was ashamed to be a Winthrop graduate with no explanation as to why.  The posts that were already there were mostly arguing back & forth, name calling, etc.  One post was by a lady that evidently works at Winthrop, stating that students had been allowed to “protest” on several different occasions which they had a right to do; however, when I looked at Winthrop's Facebook page, there were no posts about any other protests on campus.
One response I got to my post was the following:
"WOW Kimberly, Why are you ashamed for young students standing up for what they believe in?"
"ASHAMED? LOL go turn in your diploma and start college somewhere else then. Your bigotry would fit right in at Clemson right about now."
First of all, you should never make assumptions about why someone disagrees with what you are doing. Â Disgreeing with this does not make me a bigot. Â Most of what I disagree with is how it was portrayed in the Facebook post.
Second, the latter response could be seen as a form of bigotry in itself, since you’re stereotyping another group at another university.
Speaking of Clemson, there was another post to come across my Facebook Newsfeed later on the same week:
http://newsstand.clemson.edu/one-clemson-professor-believes-we-can-change-the-culture-of-failure-and-he-has-the-misters-to-prove-it-head-on/?utm_campaign=headon&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
I think Clemson is a school to be proud of …
The reasons I disagreed with the Winthrop post are as follows:
   1)  The use of the term “die in” is negative & suggests that all are victims.  I’m not saying that what has been happening is positive or that it’s okay for anyone to die, whether or not they are blameless, but for all to be lumped in together as if the police are terrorists who are targeting black males is not okay either.
   2)  The use of the term “African-American” suggests one group of people.  Some of the comments stated that this protest was for anyone killed, not just black males.  Obviously, Winthrop didn’t get that memo.  In addition, I disagree with the term being used at all.  If you were born here, you are an American.  I would guess that most of the people calling themselves African-American were not born there and/or cannot trace their ancestry back to Africa.  I know I can’t trace my ancestry, but I do know that my family name originated in Scotland.  That doesn’t mean that I call myself a Scottish American or Scotch American.  I am simply an American.  I was born in America.  Groups saying that they want to be equal but then separate themselves in this way make no sense to me.
   3)  The post states that the protest was done to “bring attention.” Trust me, unless someone is living in solitude away from civilization, they are already aware of what's going on.  We don’t need more awareness; we need somebody to do something about it in a positive way.
I applaud the protesters for doing so in a peaceful manner, but I’m not sure that protesting is what’s needed.  I hope that whoever decided to put together this “die in” was required by Winthrop to answer some questions before & after:
   1)  Why do you want to protest?
   2)  What is your goal?
   3)  Did you accomplish your goal?
I hope that Winthrop is responsible to the students on its campus & makes this a learning experience. Â Maybe the protesters believe they accomplished something, but they need to ask themselves a question:
Did my protest stop the friction between the police & the black community or did it just incite more anger & hate?
Judging by the posts that I saw, it wasn’t good.  I’m pretty sure that was the reason for Winthrop removing the post.  Groups need to come together to solve this problem instead of separating themselves.  If you want to help, do something to create better relations between the police & your community.  What we see in the news is the end of the story, the result; the problem itself is rooted elsewhere.
So, am I a bigot?  I don’t think so.  I’d rather think of myself as a naive Pollyanna who wants every living creature to live in peace without pain or suffering.  When I see things like this that seem to create the opposite effect, it makes me angry.  All I can hope for is that this was a true learning experience for Winthrop students.
“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.”
~ Wayne Dyer ~
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