Ashley Feeder

JMC 301

Holstege

8 October 2021

Political Story

A viral video of a disagreement between Black and white students over who is welcome in

Arizona State University’s Multicultural Center may end in discipline for the Black students.

A TikTok video, which had 5.6 million views as of Thursday, circulated around the internet of

two Black students confronting two white students that were doing schoolwork in the

Multicultural Center. 

One of the white males had a ‘Blue Lives Matter’ sticker on his laptop and the other was wearing

a t-shirt that said, ‘Did not vote for Biden.’

The Black students recorded a video of them asking the two men to leave because they were

“making the space uncomfortable.”

In the video, the Black student recording, Sarra Tekola, said that “white is not a culture,” and

that a multicultural space meant that white people were not being centered.

The white male with the ‘Police Lives Matter’ sticker, Chase Beckerman, said, “We pay the

same fucking tuition as you,” to the Black students.

The student with the ‘did not vote for Biden’ t-shirt said, “I’m going to sit here this whole time

and you can find somebody to kick me out.”

The viral video was picked up by right-wing social media pages that cited the incident as “anti-

white,” racist, and discriminatory toward the white males.

Brayden Liebrock, a junior in college and an Arizona resident, saw the video on Twitter.
“My reaction to this video was that I think the women behind the camera approached this

situation in a very confrontational way. They automatically judged the white students as being

racist because of the sticker,” he said.

Liebrock added that he didn’t think that it was a good idea for the white students to go to the

Multicultural Center with the politically driven shirt and sticker because it could be seen by some

people that they were asking for trouble.

Gabby Jordan, a political science major, also had some opinions on the video.

“I think the video is a prime example of freedom of speech, while that is the case it seems

distasteful that the two white men are donning a “Police Lives Matter” sticker in a place where

student POC have a safe space and it would make them uncomfortable and feel as though their

lives aren’t valued as much as a chosen career path versus the color of skin born with,” she said.

The Black women in the video have since faced death threats and insults on social media as well

as calls for expulsion.

A student that could be heard in the video, Mastaani Qureshi, told ABC15 in an interview that,

“On Instagram, Facebook, emails, we start getting death threats, rape threats, lynching threats,

and just bigoted comments that people will not say to your face nowadays.”

Despite Liebrock’s disagreement with the way the women recording the video handled the

situation, he said that “The women getting death threats from this video is honestly sickening.

No matter what your opinion is on the situation, you are in the wrong if you are treating these

women that way.”

Jordan said, “Death threats are cruel and unnecessary and it’s more beneficial to society to have

difficult conversations like this.”

“If anything, you can hold people accountable and ask questions on why behaving that way was

justified in their head,” she said.

The Cultural Excellency Center, referred to as the Multicultural Center, was a single room in the

student services building that opened at the beginning of the fall 2021 semester after the

Multicultural Solidarity Coalition had been fighting for its creation since 2016.

Tekola was one of the leaders of the campaign that led ASU to create the space.

An ASU web page said that the goal of the center is “to provide a sense of place and support for

students of color.”

Beckerman released a public statement about the incident where he said, “I do not know the

experience of those who confronted me, and I am devastated that this misunderstanding is being

highlighted by others in a way that perpetuates the continued racial divide in this country.”

Beckerman also said that he was cooperating with ASU’s investigation on the incident.

ASU released a statement regarding investigation of the incident on Sep. 24th saying, “The Dean

of Students Office is aware of the incident between a handful of students that was captured in a

video circulated on social media. The Dean of Students Office will be discussing it with all

involved.”

The statement also said, “ASU is a community of more than 100,000 people from all 50 states

and more than 150 countries. Differences of opinion are part of the university experience. The

university expects respectful dialogue between students in all engagements.”

Despite these opinions, many believe that it is important for students from all these different

backgrounds to feel safe in their environment.

 “If we create a diverse environment where students can work together, I think that is the best

solution,” said Liebrock.

“There should always be a place for people to go and feel safe,” said Jordan.

“It’s very necessary and gives people a place to be comfortable, meet people and create a sense

of community. Arizona State is trying to be more adaptable and welcoming, and I think progress

will come with time even if it feels like it can be done overnight,” she said.