Congressman praises heckling of war protesters, including 1 who made monkey gestures at Black woman

Israel-Hamas warfare demonstrations astatine the University of Mississippi turned disfigured erstwhile 1 counter-protester appeared to marque monkey noises and gestures astatine a Black woman

JACKSON, Miss. -- Israel-Hamas warfare demonstrations astatine the University of Mississippi turned disfigured this week erstwhile 1 counter-protester appeared to marque monkey noises and gestures astatine a Black pupil successful a raucous gathering that was endorsed by a far-right congressman from Georgia.

“Ole Miss taking attraction of business,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins wrote Friday connected the societal level X with a with a nexus to the video showing the racist jeers.

The Associated Press near voicemail messages for Collins connected Friday astatine his offices successful Georgia and Washington and sent an email to his spokesperson, asking for an mentation of what Collins meant. There was nary contiguous response.

The taunting brought crisp disapproval connected and disconnected campus.

“Students were calling for an extremity to genocide. They were met with racism,” James M. Thomas, a sociology prof astatine the University of Mississippi, wrote Friday connected X.

The Rev. Cornell William Brooks, a erstwhile president and CEO of the NAACP and prof astatine the John F. Kennedy School of Government astatine Harvard University, wrote connected X that a achromatic antheral mocking a Black pistillate arsenic a monkey “isn’t astir ‘Stand With Israel’ oregon ‘Free Palestine.’ This is protestation arsenic performative racism.”

Collins was archetypal elected to Congress successful 2022 and made respective societal media posts criticizing field protests.

Nobody was arrested during the objection Thursday astatine the University of Mississippi, wherever hecklers vastly outnumbered warfare protesters. According to a number by AP, much than 2,400 arrests person occurred connected 46 U.S. assemblage oregon assemblage campuses since April 17 during demonstrations against the war.

The pupil newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, reported astir 30 protesters connected the Oxford field billed themselves arsenic UMiss for Palestine. Videos and photos from the lawsuit showed the protesters were successful a grassy country adjacent the main library, blocked disconnected by barriers erected by field security.

They chanted “Free, escaped Palestine," and carried Palestinian flags and signs with slogans including, “Stop the Genocide" and “U.S. bombs instrumentality Palestine lives.”

Student writer Stacey J. Spiehler changeable video that showed field constabulary officers and the dean of students lasting betwixt anti-war protesters and hecklers. After the Black pistillate protesting the warfare had what appeared to beryllium a heated speech of words with respective achromatic hecklers, 1 of the men made the monkey gestures and noises astatine her.

About 76% of the university's students were achromatic and astir 11% were Black successful 2022-23, the astir caller information disposable connected the school's website.

University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the schoolhouse is committed to radical expressing their views. He said immoderate statements made connected field Thursday were “offensive and unacceptable."

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves reposted a video connected X that showed counter-protesters connected the field singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“Warms my heart,” Reeves wrote. “I emotion Mississippi!”