White Fragility Digest #1: 13 May 2018

[MrScorpio]

1. A White North Carolina High School Student Says BLM Mural Is Offensive -- So He Destroyed It

Link to tweet

By Tia Berger -May 11, 2018

A 16-year-old high school student in Apex, North Carolina was suspended after a video showing him tear down a Black Lives Matter mural started trending on social media.

Apex High School student Mason Stewart said he found the painting derogatory and disrespectful. The student insisted that he was only expressing his First Amendment.

“The mural on the wall was up there for about three or four weeks, ’cause they’ve been working on it occasionally because it’s an art class, and right when I saw the gun go up, that’s when I complained and it’s still up here since Monday so I tore it down,” Stewart told Abc 11.

The junior explained that he grumbled about the mural to school officials about the gun plastered in the painting and said it was inappropriate.

“It was very offensive and it’s pointing fingers to cops, and more likely white officers,” the boy said. “And I have a lot of respect for officers because their job is not easy.”

The student and creator of the mural who goes by ‘Gracie’ on social media posted the video of Stewart demolishing her work that was approved by the school and wrote, ” Welcome to Apex High School where your mural about Black Lives Matter will get torn down the day it is finished (this was a month of work BTW).”

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/05/11/white-north-carolina-high-school-student-says-blm-mural-offensive-destroyed/