Politics and Current
White House Responds to ‘Obscene’ Attack on Vice President Harris at University of South Carolina
The White House on Wednesday avoided commenting on the recent outcry over Vice President Kamala Harris’ planned comedy “fondle” on the University of South Carolina campus.
The event has been fraught with controversy due to its vulgar promoting and the participation of far-right extremist figures, conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and Proud Boys co-founder Gavin McInnes, designated white supremacist hate group.
Uncensored America, a nonprofit that bills itself as a free speech organization, is hosting the event. An ad for the campus event scheduled for Sept. 18 includes vulgar and sexual references to Harris, the nation’s first female vice chairman.
IN letter In condemning the event, the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, said of the ad, “So that there is no doubt about the obscene nature of the image, instead of listing the Vice President’s name as Kamala, the ad changes the first three letters to a vulgar term for semen.”
NAACP President Derrick Johnson and South Carolina State Conference President Brenda Murphy called on USC President Michael Amiridis and the institution’s board of trustees to cancel the event.
“I cannot respond to every racist, misogynist and sexist comment that has been made,” a White House spokesman said.
Jean-Pierre, who’s the primary Black and openly LGBTQ person to function White House press secretary, added: “I want to speak on behalf of my colleagues. I think we’re all very proud to have the vice president as our vice president and for the work we’ve seen him do with the president over the last three and a half years.”
She added that President Biden can be “proud” of Harris and the intentionally diverse administration they’ve built and led together.
Critics of the event on the USC campus say it goes beyond free speech and exposes students, especially black students, to hate speech and a hostile environment.
Johnson and Murphy of the NAACP indicate of their letter that black female students who spoke out against the “fucking” on campus on social media were subjected to “racist, misogynistic, sexually explicit, and lewd verbal attacks” after Yiannopoulos shared their posts on his social media platform, which has a whole bunch of hundreds of followers.
South Carolina State Senator Tameika Isaac Devine also released letter calling on President Amiridis to cancel the on-campus event. Devine argued that not only did it violate the institution’s discrimination policy, but it surely also sent “the wrong message to students, faculty, alumni, and donors” and would “undermine the progress” the university has made toward reconciliation after previously confronting its “difficult history with race.”
“I strongly oppose our state-funded institution providing a platform for individuals or groups that promote hatred, division and violence. I strongly urge the university to reconsider hosting such a harmful event,” Devine said.
The NAACP noted that inviting McInnes and Yiannopoulos, specifically, poses a big risk to students and staff on campus. Leaders of the organization identified that extremist leaders and the Proud Boys have a “history of violence,” including the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“As president, you have a responsibility to protect the students who choose to attend USC, your employees, and campus guests,” the letter said. “We urge you to make the right decision and cancel the proposed event.”
AND petition A student petition calling on the university to withdraw from organizing the coed picnic has collected almost 25,000 signatures. In the list As local TV station Wis10 reported, USC President Amiridis refused to cancel the event, which he said was organized by the coed chapter of Uncensored America and “is not endorsed by the university.”
“We remain steadfast in protecting the First Amendment rights of our students, even when their choices and statements may offend us,” he said.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly been the goal of racist and sexist attacks from Republicans and conservatives. In a recent interview with CNN, Harris, who’s of Jamaican and Indian descent, took the high road when asked about her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, falsely claiming that she decided to “go black” for political reasons.
“Same old, boring instructions. Next question, please,” the vice chairman said.
“I think we’re seeing a fear that we have a very strong candidate and a very qualified candidate who is going to be able to go after Donald Trump and at the same time split the contrast between the two visions of this country,” said U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who’s running for Democratic U.S. Senate in Delaware. Blunt Rochester can be a national co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign.