Given recent events at the University of Missouri – a microcosm of a broader movement to destroy free speech and expression in America – it is worthwhile to identify noteworthy features of the driving force behind them: the group dubbed Concerned Student 1950.
Below are six important facts the usual suspects in media refuse to report. Don’t expect Anderson Cooper to ask about any of this.
Concerned Student 1950 is soaked in racial neo-Marxist imagery and rhetoric. Jonathan Butler – the most visible face of Concerned Student 1950 – and his entourage of black revolutionaries choose to wear matching t-shirts emblazoned with the Black Power Fist for their public events. The icon is also colored with red, black, and green; the colors of black supremacist Pan-African racial nationalism. His wardrobe of political uniforms also includes a t-shirt stating, “ASSATA TAUGHT ME”, expressing solidarity with domestic leftist terrorist and convicted murderer Assata Shakur, who evaded justice by fleeing to Cuba. Lastly, he’s been photographed wearing a t-shirt declaring, “I LOVE MY BLACKNESS AND YOURS”, popularized by professional racial agitator Deray McKesson who was central to inciting riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. Butler and his followers also wear pendants in the shape of the African continent. He and his troupe regularly speak of revolution on a national and international scale, shouting the communist slogan, “We have nothing to lose but our chains!”.
Concerned Student 1950’s leader is beyond bourgeois; his family is “filthy rich”. Butler’s father, Eric L. Butler, is an executive at Union Pacific Railroad whose compensation was $8.4 million in 2014. The younger Butler has also been a student at the university since 2008. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and is now pursuing a graduate degree in educational leadership and policy. The family’s net worth is reportedly upward of $20 million.
The is little to no evidence for many of Concerned Student 1950’s claims. Butler claimed that a “poopstika” was made on the wall of his dormitory’s bathroom, yet has provided no evidence to corroborate his allegation. Butler also lied when he claimed that Tim Wolfe – the former university president who resigned in surrender to Concerned Student 1950’s demands – had hit him with his car when he and his entourage tried intimidating Wolfe near a parking lot. Payton Head, student body president at UoM, claims that the n-word was hurled at him while “walking with a friend to get cookies” by white males in a red pickup truck. It remains unknown if these white racists were listening to country music at the time, had a confederate flag bumper sticker, or voted for Mitt Romney in 2012.
All eight demands made by Concerned Student 1950 relate to race.
Concerned Student 1950’s demands are all racial. All eight demands made by Concerned Student 1950 relate to race. Even its preamble demands Wolfe “acknowledge his white male privilege” and “recognize that systems of oppression exist”. The demand letter claims the group represents all black students admitted to the university since 1950, and states without reservation that all black students are necessarily “oppressed.” The group demands an erosion of meritocracy via the implementation of racial quotas for admission of students and hiring of staff. Also demanded is the adoption of mandatory “racial awareness and inclusion” curricula for the school’s students and staff.
Concerned Student 1950 hates the First Amendment. Even left-wing media reported on the irony of an assistant professor of mass media seeking to use intimidation and violence to suppress the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. Shouting “I need some muscle!” Melissa Click shrieked for assistance to violently stop a student journalist from recording events in an outdoor public area of the campus. Another supporter of the group, Brenda Smith-Lezama, told MSNBC, “I personally am tired of hearing that first amendment rights protect students when they are creating a hostile and unsafe learning environment for myself and for other students here.” Lezama-Smith is a beauty queen who competed in 2013’s Miss Teen USA; she’s currently pursuing a journalism degree and is the student government’s VP alongside Head.
Concerned Student 1950 sees racism anywhere and everywhere. Butler, Head, Lezama-Smith, and other students affiliated with the group are all on record speaking about “systems of oppression.” Other iterations of this narrative invoked by the group’s members include “white supremacy,” “systematic and institutionalized racism,” and “white privilege.” All have said that the ousting of Wolfe is just the beginning of a broader racial revolution. Head has stated that the alleged incidents of racism prompting his group’s formation are part and parcel of the national social fabric. When the entire system is racist, the entire system needs to be torn down.