University of Georgia TA Doubles Down After Scrutiny for Advocating Violence

Scott Olson/Getty Images
Scott Olson/Getty Images

A teaching assistant at the University of Georgia has doubled down after falling under scrutiny for making anti-white statements on social media, and suggesting that violence should not be ruled out in the pursuit of racial justice.

University of Georgia (UGA) student Andrew Lawrence confronted teaching assistant Irami Osei-Frimpong during a meeting on campus in the fall 2018 semester, after seeing a plethora of anti-white comments the TA had made on social media.

Osei-Frimpong had made a variety of statements on social media, ranging from his claim that southern hospitality is enacted by white southerners — or “sociopaths” — as a means for “sustaining oppression,” to suggesting that “some white people may have to die” in order to achieve racial justice.

“You can’t fight for the poor, unless your people were poor” said Osei-Frimpong to Lawrence during their confrontation on campus, “If you get individualized in the discourse, you’ll never actually fight for any sort of group rights.”

“You need stereotypes — generalization — in order to do serious justice works, and it’s a strategy to pretend that, like, all people are individuals,” added the TA.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” continued Osei-Frimpong, “but I suspect that people who grow up here and tend to talk very southern would agree that manners have a very complicated role in sustaining oppression.”

Seemingly unabashed by Lawrence’s concerns, the TA continued posting his rhetoric on social media, tweeting a few weeks ago that “fighting white people is a skill” and should be practiced. Osei-Frimpong added that this is one of the reasons why he is in favor of “integrated schools.”

Several of the university’s alumni and donors are now saying that they will pull their financial donations to the school, according to a recent report by Campus Reform.

UGA responded to the controversy in a statement on Sunday, saying that “racism has no place” on its campus, and that the school has been “vigorously exploring all legal options.”

“We condemn the advocacy or suggestion of violence in any form,” stated the university.

Meanwhile, Osei-Frimpong has doubled down on his claim that violence should not be ruled out in the pursuit of racial justice, adding, “it’s just a fact of history that racial justice often comes at the cost of white life.”

“The question about violence not having any place on the university campus is a little bit dubious, because we have an ROTC,” said the Osei-Frimpong on WGAU radio on Tuesday.

After being directly asked if he would advocate for “non-violence,” Osei-Frimpong responded by saying that he would not rule out violence against “whoever the oppressors may be.”

The TA added that “shaming” should be the first option when dealing with “white culture,” but that “if they cannot be shamed — violence is always going to be a second-best option.”

The TA also clarified that he never said “all kids and suburbans” in Georgia are white supremacists, but that he did say he cannot be surprised to find that many of them are, in the same way one would not be surprised to find that many natives of Athens, Georgia are Bulldogs fans.

“It’s just in the water,” said the TA.

“His comments are dangerous, and they scare people,” said Lawrence to Breitbart News, “Here we are, bringing this to the university system’s attention, and nothing has happened.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.