NTU student has been criticised after saying that Black Lives Matter protests turned into “blacks causing violence” on his Facebook page.
First year Law student Joe Somers’ posts have been first noticed by his course mates, who took screenshots of the posts.
The images have then been shared on Twitter, where they got hundreds of reactions and re-tweets.
This incident started to cause reactions and criticism addressed to Joe’s comments at the beginning of this month, on June 3.
Joe Somers has published an apology where he explains that “the message of Black Lives Matter has been distorted by the violence and chaos” and his posts aimed to “push towards peaceful protests”.
However, the student has deleted his account shortly after.
A fellow course mate of Joe’s, who preferred to stay anonymous, told Platform more about how other Law students have reacted to these comments.
Our source said: “People obviously reacted and said to him ‘you can’t say that sort of stuff’.
“We’ve got a proportion a BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) students in our group, and he was completely condemned by a lot of them and the fact that he then tried to justify it by saying that it wasn’t about what they’re protesting for, but about how they’re protesting.
“It just seems to antagonise the situation.”
The source has also mentioned that these comments are worrying as they come from someone who aspires to have a career in the judicial sector.
Our source added: “Taking into account that he’s a law student as well, I think there’s a problem that he’s biased and has prejudice against black people.”
“The thing that really bothered me and other people is that by saying what he said he’s prioritising the damage of property over the damage of human rights.
“What he is saying is that the damage of property is worse than people being killed.”
NTU have not yet confirmed if there is an ongoing investigation in regards to Joe Somers’ comments.
Given this is not an isolated case, NTU have released a statement about this problem, and announced new measures that will possibly be implemented in order to combat racism on campus.
VP Community and Welfare Liv Broad, spoke on behalf of the NTSU: “As a Students’ Union, we stand together in solidarity with our black students and staff.
“We are committed to leading the conversation around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on campus as stated in our strategy and do not condone any form of racism or discrimination.
“We are unable to comment on any current investigations however, you can find more information on reporting an incident in NTU’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.”
If you require support, please reach out to NTSU Information and Advice Service at www.trentstudents.org/advice.
By Olimpia Zagnat
Featured image credit (modified): Pixabay