VCU students walk out of commencement during Youngkin address
VCU students who walked out said they were demonstrating support for Palestinians and protesting some of the Republican governor’s crusade against efforts to promote racial equity in education.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/05/11/vcu-youngkin-commencement-walkout/ By Karina Elwood and Laura Vozzella
Updated May 11, 2024 at 3:58 p.m. EDT|Published May 11, 2024 at 12:05 p.m. EDT
RICHMOND — Dozens of Virginia Commonwealth University students walked out of their graduation ceremony Saturday morning as Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivered the commencement address, demonstrating support for Palestinians and protesting some of the Republican’s crusade against efforts to promote racial equity in education.
The selection of Youngkin as speaker drew criticism from some ahead of the ceremony. The university’s chapter of the NAACP this week urged VCU officials to rescind the invitation, and some students in recent days said they would hold a walkout during the ceremony.
On Saturday, attendees at the commencement were given cards congratulating the graduating class but warning that anyone who disrupted the ceremony was subject to removal.
As Youngkin began his speech, dozens of the graduates in attendance filed out of the Greater Richmond Convention Center, mostly in silence, some holding kaffiyeh scarves and signs aloft. “Teach Black history,” one read. “Book bans [do not equal] respect for learning,” read another.
Anonymous
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Imagine trying very hard to make Glenn Youngkin look like an innocent good guy.
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>>1294657 this is outrageous. have they apologized?
I'm proud of the snowflakes & ashamed of theP̶r̶o̶u̶d̶ boys
I'm proud of the snowflakes & ashamed of theP̶r̶o̶u̶d̶ boys Sun 12 May 2024 23:17:24 No. 1294698 Report >>1294657 Kids now a days.
i thought that they were all snowflakes and it turns out they have more backbone than any P̶r̶o̶u̶d̶ Ashamed Boy marching in Charlottesville.
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>>1294657 >Republican governor’s crusade against efforts to promote racial equity [x] doubt
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>>1294657 >protesting some of the Republican’s crusade against efforts to promote racial equity in education. It's still insane to me how after decades of advocating for racial equality on fundamental moral grounds, now that's bad and "equity" or racial discrimination has replaced it as the new ideal
Anonymous
>>1294657 I'd pay like $2 to see the statistics on what majors all these students walking out have. Students in multiple places have done walkouts, and I suspect not very many of them are engineering majors.
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>>1294657 Imagine thinking you owe politicianas your time.
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>>1294788 As an engineering major, we all had to study real subjects like calculus, differentials and linear algebra.
Had zero time to give a shit about the latest protest-of-the-month
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>>1294788 Its not really major specific. Its just upper-middle class white leftists who are obligated to take the pro-hamas position because their inclusion into zoomer social circles requires it.
Anonymous
>>1294861 Where do you people get this shit from?
Anonymous
>>1294863 >Where do you people get this shit from? Actual engagement with leftist communities and general awareness of current social archetypes. Generic progressiveness is a pretty standard component of zoomer social spaces. The Twitter/TikTok generation breeds this boilerplate pro-trans, pro-racial equity, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist constellation of beliefs that is firmly enforced. Socially, you're not allowed to associate with the left if you don't vehemently support this belief system. This is particularly the case on college campuses where the population is more skewed to the middle/upper class i.e. less working class, less blue collar. The far-right meme that liberal arts and women's studies majors are the only zoomers who are completely bought in to online progressive rhetoric is beyond moronic. It doesn't matter what major you are - if you are currently 18-21 years old and on a college campus the entire community will turn against you if you don't adhere to the group values. The only kids who regularly reject this dichotomy are the ones that lean right enough to find community with conservative student groups and they are a significantly smaller minority.
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>>1294866 My experience is that Zoomers hate fags and woke shit.
At least the younger ones.
Some of the older ones were applauded in college for being anti-white and woke shitlords.
They're the ones that are lost.
Anonymous
>>1294786 It's not a reversal, it's a shift. The line used to be "everyone should have equal opportunity;" now it's "everyone should have equal results."
It's obviously insane, but you can see the train of logic if you squint. They realized that you can't undo centuries of accumulated generational wealth disparity in a reasonable time frame without pissing off everyone. They also realized that you can't undo a cultural-level victim complex in a reasonable time frame, or probably at all. So, they stopped trying for the most part; instead of addressing root causes, they shifted to trying to force results despite those root causes - put more minorities in higher paying jobs, ensure they get higher education, ensure they get access to housing above their level of pay, etcetera, and hopefully they'll solve the root problems themselves with those added resources. It could even work, in theory, but it really doesn't seem like it is in reality.
Part of the problem is that they're forced to try to address all racial minorities as a group, when each racial group is distinct and has distinct root causes of their current societal dysfunction.
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>>1294887 >They realized that you can't undo centuries of accumulated generational wealth disparity in a reasonable time frame without pissing off everyone They "realized" that by ignoring immigrants. Asian immigrants in far fewer generations than blacks have outperformed even native whites. They aren't clamoring to give whites benefits so they can catch up to Chinese and Indian-Americans.
> they stopped trying for the most part; instead of addressing root causes What they're overly reluctant to admit is that some of the root causes just can't be fixed. Humans aren't all identical. Some groups are naturally smarter than other groups on average. In a fair system, you'll never have as many black lawyers as Ashkenazi Jewish lawyers. Give it a thousand years and it still won't come close. That's nature. On an individual level, which used to be how you were meant to look at people, it doesn't make a difference. If a black guy has what it takes, he'll make it. If he doesn't, he won't, same as anyone else. Either way, it doesn't affect anyone else that happens to look like him.
Anonymous
>>1294900 It's worth noting that the Asian wealth disparity with Whites was severe until the 1980's, having started to close in the 1960's with the Civil Rights Act. Whites also slightly outperform Asians in wealth currently, but the two groups are generally at about the same level - no one sees enough of a gap to try to solve it.
This does beg the question of why this worked for Asians, but not Blacks or Mexicans, but I think it's reasonable to put this down to economic and cultural factors rather than genetic. Don't jump down my throat yet - hear me out. We can't quantify intelligence or other behavioral traits on a genetic level, but success and lawfulness are apparent in comparisons across cultures. US Blacks, the highest offenders, have a persecution complex on a cultural level and the least generational wealth. Established Hispanics have somewhat more generational wealth and very little of a cultural beef with Whites, and have less crime and poverty. First generation Hispanics, and migrant workers, are about as poor and commit about as many crimes as Blacks. White and Asian people raised in those communities also tend to be poor and criminals. Until we can actually show where criminality and intelligence exist in our DNA, more evidence points to the issue being cultural, rather than intrinsic to specific races. It should be noted also that people with any shade of skin can be quite genetically diverse - White Americans have more shared DNA with Blacks than Blacks do with Africans, usually.
However, this doesn't mean the problem is any more solveable, or that you're wrong when you say each individual should be considered on their own merit. There are real, percievable differences across racial groups, regardless of cause. This is why Affirmative Action failed and why the current push for equity will fail. You can't force people to be successful when they don't want to be.
Anonymous
Deport these dumb faggots to the brown countries they worship so they can peacefully get thrown off buildings for their faggotry already.
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>>1294915 >you should be punished any time you exercise free speech It's so weird seeing all these conservatives come out and brand themselves as people who never believed in American values.
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>>1294924 nta, nor a conservative, but these retard leftists think that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend." No they're still enemies of the leftists. Islamic extremists would be like
>Thanks for the help faggot! Now put this rope around your neck. Anonymous
>>1294925 Israel is not your ally, and you should be enraged that your tax dollars are funding their war crimes.
Anonymous
>>1294924 >It's so weird seeing all these leftists come out and brand themselves as people who never believed in American values. FTFY.
No one supports your rights to protest and free speech, because you faggots spent all of 2020-2022 arguing for people to be arrested and put into camps for protesting covid lockdowns and vax mandates. No one has forgotten this simply because you want them to. You don't get to advocate for a police state only to cry about how no one is willing to some support you and save you from the police state.
Moreover no one gives a shit about a bunch of servile college students who were perfectly obedient to their political masters until they were finally allowed to "protest and disrupt to raise awreness" only when it was convenient for said masters. Gotta sit and obediently wait for final grades to be posted before you can "rage against the machine" because you still need your meal ticket from the machine.
You are brown shirts, deal with it.
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>>1294926 You should be enraged at far more than simply what your tax dollars are doing for Israel, but then you'd be an actual extremist and not a pop-political one still safely controlled by the establishment.
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>>1294938 >No one supports your rights to protest and free speech, because you faggots spent all of 2020-2022 arguing for people to be arrested and put into camps for protesting covid lockdowns and vax mandates. You do realize that this started with the government and government-controlled media using scare tactics to coerce the public into doing what they wanted, right?
Conservatives areunironically worse than leftists, because at least leftists were favoring the current power structure, whereas you retards are being backed by fifth columnists.
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>>1294657 >Teach Black history,” one read. “Book bans [do not equal] respect for learning,” read another. Lmao
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>>1294698 >backbone >walkout you never suffered in your life
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>>1294938 You just don't care because you don't like the people being punished. Congress is taking away your free speech to criticize Israel and you don't care cuz brown people are worse to you.
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>>1294938 >You are brown shirts This is hilarious coming from the same people who marched with tiki torches screaming about jews not replacing them.
Anonymous
>>1294959 You mean the Lincoln project? The professional group of democrat false flaggers?
Anonymous
>>1294914 >We can't quantify intelligence or other behavioral traits on a genetic level Putting IQ aside, there has been research into genes associated with intelligence and behavior, and it does vary by group. Now there's a push to stop researching, to stop learning, for fear that it will offend or embarrass some people. This is a question where accurate answers are forbidden due to taboo.
As for IQ, it's a hell of a coincidence if IQ levels correlate as strongly as they do with levels of "cultural beef" (ignoring white people, who have a lower average IQ than several minority groups-- then again, they seem to have cultural beef with themselves now too).
I want to think it's people being well-meaning and wanting to handle things scientifically, but they actively oppose scientific answers on moral grounds. I don't think they're just squinting at the problem and honestly interpreting it in the way you propose.
Anonymous
>>1294938 >you faggots spent all of 2020-2022 arguing for people to be arrested and put into camps for protesting covid lockdowns and vax mandates Name 5 people who argued for this
Anonymous
>>1294971 IQ is a bit of a quagmire, scientifically; while there are strong correlations between levels of IQ and life success, no one has been able to definitively prove that IQ tests are actually measuring "intelligence." It goes to a larger problem of quantifying intelligence in general. White and Asian people do perform better on IQ tests on average, but so do people who are tall, and people who wear glasses (being over 6ft and wearing glasses will typically add around 4-7 points to your IQ score). No one argues that some people are better than others at certain cognitive skills, and that these differences can be predicted across ethnic groups, but no one has been able to find causal relationships for this on a biological level. In other words, the brains of average people look about the same as the brains of geniuses; brains cannot be identified by race in a vacuum, either. It has been suggested that these results can thus be explained by bias in the test itself; it was designed by White and Jewish psychologists, and there may be some inherent bias towards those cultures. Asians are seen as having conformed to those cultural expectations. That said, you're right when you say that this question isn't really examined from a biological angle currently, and that this is due to political bias in science.
It's hard to cover these sorts of topics in 2000 characters - my point with "cultural beef" is that when a culture percieves itself as persecuted, they are more likely to rebel against the culture they think they are being persecuted by. You can see this with Gypsies, Muslims, Kurds, and Jews, in other countries. American Blacks tend towards an attitude of "I'm right to commit crimes, because I've been wronged by society." I see this as (part of) an explanation for their higher overall offense rate.
I do think that most people do what they think is right, and am skeptical of any conspiratorial answers to these questions.
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>>1294966 It's like you learned everything you know about The Lincoln Project from facebook chain emails.
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>>1294990 (2000 characters)
I'd also like to add that while it is currently the case that biological/genetic differences across races aren't examined, this is a relatively recent development. There are decades of research into the subject - it didn't peter out until the 80's-90's. A lot of that research suggested what you are suggesting, which is that there are genetic differences between races that are intrinsic, but I don't know of any that held up to scrutiny; it's worth noting that these studies were done by Whites and that they generally showed Whites as outperforming other races (with variances by different White groups, usually). This is the basis for the current disregard for such solutions by the scientific community. However, it's also true that you cannot even ask such questions in the modern climate, and that with more modern tools and methodologies now available, these questions should be re-examined.
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>>1294992 Genetic differences related specifically to intelligence/behavior, I mean. Other genetic differences are allowed to be looked at.
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>>1294990 >while there are strong correlations between levels of IQ and life success, no one has been able to definitively prove that IQ tests are actually measuring "intelligence." > It has been suggested that these results can thus be explained by bias in the test itself; it was designed by White and Jewish psychologists, and there may be some inherent bias towards those cultures. Asians are seen as having conformed to those cultural expectations. If you were looking at it in, say, an American context exclusively, this would be a more understandable thing to guess at, but there is a global context and a historical context as well. People in Japan score higher on IQ tests than people in America and every European country; this is not from conforming to white and Jewish culture. People in African countries score lower on IQ tests than black people in America; this is not from a persecution complex and beefing with white people.
The endpoints of intelligence, things like scientific achievements and societal advancement, fall along mostly the same lines.
>I do think that most people do what they think is right, and am skeptical of any conspiratorial answers to these questions. I can admire that, but doing what one thinks is right is not necessarily doing what one thinks is honest and truthful. Some people will knowingly lie if they think it's for a good cause, and a lie only holds up if it can't be challenged.
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>>1294985 https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/partner_surveys/jan_2022/covid_19_democratic_voters_support_harsh_measures_against_unvaccinated >Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters would oppose a proposal for federal or state governments to fine Americans who choose not to get a COVID-19 vaccine. However, 55% of Democratic voters would support such a proposal, compared to just 19% of Republicans and 25% of unaffiliated voters. >Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democratic voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies, if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Such a proposal is opposed by 61% of all likely voters, including 79% of Republicans and 71% of unaffiliated voters. >Nearly half (48%) of Democratic voters think federal and state governments should be able to fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications. Only 27% of all voters – including just 14% of Republicans and 18% of unaffiliated voters – favor criminal punishment of vaccine critics. >Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats would favor governments requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Such a policy would be opposed by a strong majority (71%) of all voters, with 78% of Republicans and 64% of unaffiliated voters saying they would Strongly Oppose putting the unvaccinated in “designated facilities.” >While about two-thirds (66%) of likely voters would be against governments using digital devices to track unvaccinated people to ensure that they are quarantined or socially distancing from others, 47% of Democrats favor a government tracking program for those who won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine. Everybody knows who said and did what. They will never be forgotten.
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>>1294998 >half of democrats supported literal concentration camps proving yet again: scratch a liberal, a fascist bleeds
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>>1294966 >They're not the real Republicans, we are! I bet they can say the same thing
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>>1294657 >Governor who swore to impose a 15 week abortion ban is unpopular among young people Big surprise
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>>1294657 Unironically, I am glad zoomers are finally standing up to Israel
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>>1294996 You're right, but if you assume that IQ tests are actually testing a particular mind/skillset that is valued by Western society, rather than acuity or intelligence as a whole, this would be expected. Both Chinese and Japanese societies in the modern era are modeled after Western countries - it would make sense to think that their citizens would have similar benchmarks for success. Black people live in Western society and are somewhat accustomed to it; Africans do and are not.
Consider this also: If I accept scientific achievement as a de facto benchmark of general intelligence in an ethnic group, I'd expect groups with higher average intelligence to consistently make more scientific advancements than other racial groups. This isn't the case - despite outperforming them now, Japan was behind Europeans, and later Americans, technologically for most of history. WW2 was ended by a White technological advancement. In contrast, China was consistently above Europeans for most of the Middle Ages, but fell far behind with the Industrial Revolution. Given these things, I must conclude that even if there are general IQ differences across races, they can't be the sole explanation for apparent success. Culture has to play a part; moreover, there's more evidence to suggest culture plays a larger part.
Please note that I'm arguing out of a genuine interest in the topic, not to make "internet arguments won" marks on my wall. I'm not personally attached.
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>>1295010 fascism is a right wing ideology
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>>1295152 >f you assume that IQ tests are actually testing a particular mind/skillset that is valued by Western society, rather than acuity or intelligence as a whole I'd rephrase that as intelligence in a form that is useful. I've heard people confronted by the IQ thing start to argue about all kinds of hidden intelligences that science has yet to explore, but this always came across as a way to ignore the glaringly obvious.
>Both Chinese and Japanese societies in the modern era are modeled after Western countries - it would make sense to think that their citizens would have similar benchmarks for success. Black people live in Western society and are somewhat accustomed to it; Africans do and are not. What, asian countries are more modeled after western countries than western countries themselves are? Black people have been in western society for 400 years, they're less accustomed to it than recent Chinese immigrants? Black Americans and Africans are differentiated by genetic admixture and the IQ difference is what you would expect as a result.
I agree about intelligence alone not being the sole factor in certain achievements, although of course it is a large factor. Culture is another factor, but then again culture doesn't sprout from nothing, and raising different races in the same culture still leads to noticeable and consistent gaps between groups.
I get that you're not arguing these points yourself, but just presenting them as what people might believe. I'm just saying I find it hard to agree that these are beliefs people would come to naturally through logic, rather than out of desperation and a bit of fear, searching for any alternative answer no matter how flimsy. Maybe that's cynical, but that's the only way I can figure the intense opposition to even exploring these topics.
Anonymous
>>1295395 Since we agree that we're arguing in good faith, I'll continue.
>I'd rephrase that as intelligence in a form that is useful. This is basically what is meant when it's argued that IQ tests are biased to Western conceptions. If we agree that IQ tests can only definitively said to measure usefulness (via scientific achievement, etc.), it should be said that "useful" is a cultural concept, as it's based around what is valuable to a particular society. I might be valued for my aptitude for conceptualization of ideas and imagination in America, and score high in IQ due to this, but these traits would not be valuable if I lived in a tribal village in Africa. Thus, maybe IQ tests, which were designed out of Western value judgements, are measuring aptitude to Western conceptions of success, rather than "actual intelligence."
You can argue against this fairly successfully: societies that value what Western cultures value outperform societies do not in health and warfare, therefore their values are better. However, there is the possibility that there are ways of success (and therefore types of intelligence) that were not able to be realized due to the dominance of Western ideals via colonialism - maybe subjugated societies would have succeeded in different ways without interference. I'd agree this is a bit thin, as it's based mostly on conjecture, but I don't think people believe in it solely as a coping mechanism. There's logic there.
Following that logic, Asian countries may have Western conceptualization of success with a culture that is more apt towards actually inspiring that success; the Chinese language lends itself better to math concepts, for example. Both Asian and Japanese cultures put more emphasis on educational success as well. To qualify: it's less that they model the particulars of Western society, and more that they value the same things. If we think that IQ is measuring aptitude for these particular kinds of success, this makes sense.
Anonymous
>>1295435 As for the question for Black people in America, this goes back to the cultural persecution complex and the lack of will to succeed because of it. This goes to an earlier point, but you mentioned that other cultures in Africa shouldn't have this - however, you could argue that they do, as a result of colonial-era exploitation. I've seen the argument made that European subjugation gave all of those societies an inherent inferiority complex in regard to Whites, and I think it's possible. To them, European conquerers were basically Gods; this makes a lasting impression.
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>>1295435 > If we agree that IQ tests can only definitively said to measure usefulness (via scientific achievement, etc.), it should be said that "useful" is a cultural concept, as it's based around what is valuable to a particular society. Isn't that particular set of values what is considered when we're talking about western civilization and inequalities? We're getting a little crossed between the local vs global talk, but when people are outraged that black students lag behind white and asian students in math scores, I've yet to hear someone answer that it's balanced out by the innate tribal intelligence of the black students, which would benefit them in a rural African village. If IQ measures aptitude to western society, the thing to figure out is still whether or not that is genetic. It's currently acceptable to say that intelligence is heritable, just not that this has lead to unequal distribution between racial/ethnic groups. If you told people that anyone can become a genius with the right culture and a positive attitude, there would be plenty of skepticism, and the idea of there being different types of intelligence that are all equally valid is a belief that only pops up, temporarily, when discussing race and IQ. We even determine the intelligence of other animals by our own standards, and a chicken is regarded as less intelligent than a dolphin, not equally intelligent in its own chicken way.
>the Chinese language lends itself better to math concepts, for example. Both Asian and Japanese cultures put more emphasis on educational success as well. To qualify: it's less that they model the particulars of Western society, and more that they value the same things In an American school, where the asian, white, black, and hispanic students are from the same neighborhoods, speak English, and are raised in the same culture, and the same trends in academic achievement are found in virtually every district in the country, that has to get people thinking.
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>>1295436 >this goes back to the cultural persecution complex and the lack of will to succeed because of it. When asians are subjugated, it increases their aptitude to western civilization and makes them successful, but when africans are subjugated, it dooms them to never be successful? This is another instance where people have to reverse things they already believed in order to form a politically correct belief. Normally, adversity is associated with increased drive and motivation. When black people break that mold, the wisdom becomes that any adversity will permanently cripple a people, and no matter where they migrate, no matter what country they're born in, it will follow them everywhere so that they are always at the bottom. Every student in the US is taught about how America broke away from British tyranny and went on to thrive and become a global superpower.
