Coastal Carolina University had plenty of ways to honor Civil Rights movement leader, Ella Baker, but instead politicized the event by choosing to invite Janaya Kahn, a founding member of the Black Lives Matter movement in Toronto. The decision did not go unnoticed by the CCU Conservatives, who spoke out on their Facebook page and staged a protest, which rather than disrupt the event, made the groups complaints known in a peaceful and respectful manner.
The news release regarding Kahn’s invitation, “in celebration of Baker’s legacy” did not address negative connotations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement:
The professor who invited Kahn, Deborah Perkins spoke to WPDE about how Kahn “parallels” Baker, “because both of them fought and, are fighting for, social justice and transformation of basic inequalities that exist in our world.”
The CCU Conservatives saw it another way, however, noting in a statement shared on Facebook that Kahn’s movement “is characterized by it’s anti-law rhetoric and its condoning violence to further its divisive agenda.”
Inviting a Black Lives Matter founder hit particularly close to home for Cody Fongemie, chairman of CCU Conservatives. “There was a chant going “pigs in a blanket, pigs in a blanket” with people associated with that. That is just offensive coming from a family of law enforcement officers and knowing many law enforcement,” he told WPDE. Fongemie also questioned why the school didn’t look to local civil rights leaders.
