An online fundraiser has been launched to pay for the security of Black Lives Matter activist Zyahna Bryant, whose partnership with Dove to promote “fat liberation” sparked controversy after she was accused of getting a white student expelled. for “misheard” comments.
The GoFundMe, which had raised nearly $10,000 as of Sunday, was created last week by Erica Chapman, a woman from Charlottesville, Virginia, who claims to be Bryant’s cousin.
“Zyahna has been receiving hate emails and threats for YEARS, and they have gotten worse recently,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Chapman said Bryant, a community organizer and student activist studying at the University of Virginia, had faced increasing threats since she announced last month that she would partner with Dove Beauty to promote “fat release.”
“Unfortunately, in the current national climate, with so many angry, violent and unpredictable people, being a visible and outspoken advocate and activist carries significant risks,” Chapman wrote.
“Zyahna is currently a graduate student and we want to make sure she can continue all the work she does in the classroom and in the community. “We don’t want to let these racist attacks take that away,” she added.
“Please help Zyahna’s friends and family support her by ensuring she is SAFE and protected as she continues her important work helping and uplifting marginalized people and communities.”
An online fundraiser seeks money to provide security for Black Lives Matter activist Zyahna Bryant.zysaidso/Instagram
The nature of the threats against Bryant was unclear. It was also unknown what kind of security measures he might be receiving.
The Post contacted Bryant and Chapman for comment on Sunday.
The fundraiser, which had raised $10,050 of its $15,000 goal as of Sunday, comes nearly a month after Bryant announced his partnership with Dove in late August.
GoFundMe, created by his cousin Erica Chapman, has raised nearly $10,000 as of Sunday.GoFundMe
In a video posted to her Instagram page, the 22-year-old said: “I believe we should focus on the voices and experiences of the most marginalized people and communities at all times.”
“So when I think about what fat liberation looks like to me, I think about centering the voices of those who live and maneuver through spaces and institutions in a fat body.”
She captioned her video saying, “Fat release is something we should all be talking about… Tell us what fat release means to you by using the hashtag #SizeFreedom and tagging @dove to share your story.”
It was later revealed that Bryant pressured University of Virginia administrators to expel white student Morgan Bettinger from campus for comments she later admitted she may have misheard, prompting several conservatives to say online that they would boycott the Dove products.
Bryant posted a video last month announcing that he was partnering with Dove to promote “fat release.” Zyahna Bryant / Instagram
Former FOX host Megyn Kelly also addressed the controversy on her podcast, saying, “Apparently Dove doesn’t have access to Google, because a simple Google search would have shown Dove that she is a deeply problematic person.
“This is the person who tried to ruin the life of a white student at the University of Virginia; “actually, he attempted to ruin this young woman’s life by trying to get her expelled from college by falsely claiming that this young white girl had made comments about black people being ‘obstacles’ at a BLM riot or protest in front of the police,” he said. Kelly.
“I couldn’t care less about his fat body,” Kelly said. “It’s more her anorexic mind that bothers me. And this partnership must end or Dove must get the Anheuser-Busch treatment,” she added, referring to Budweiser’s parent company, whose stock has plummeted since he partnered with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney.
Billionaire Elon Musk called the situation “messed up.”
Dove and its parent company, Unilever, have yet to publicly discuss the controversy.
The saga began when Bettinger mistakenly drove down a Charlottesville street where some Black Lives Matter activists were protesting in the summer of 2020.
She told Reason magazine that she saw a dump truck partially blocking the road, but since the street was not completely closed, she continued driving.
Bryant was criticized for trying to have a white student expelled from the University of Virginia for comments she admitted she may have “misheard.”zysaidso/Instagram
When he realized the road was actually blocked to traffic, Bettinger said, he decided to park his car and see what was happening.
As she drove by, Bettinger said, the trucker began talking to her and the two had a brief conversation. Bettinger says she recalled telling the truck driver something like, “It’s good you’re here because otherwise these people would have been obstacles,” trying to praise her efforts to block traffic.
The driver later corroborated Bettinger’s comment to local police.
But Bryant overheard part of the conversation and tweeted that Bettinger said protesters “would be ‘good obstacles’” along with a video showing Bettinger backing down the street in her car as Bryant and several other protesters followed her.
Morgan Bettinger drove down a street in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Black Lives Matter activists were protesting in the summer of 2020.WUVA NEWS
“She then called the police and started crying, saying we were attacking her,” Bryant said.
The tweet was quickly shared more than a thousand times and internet sleuths soon identified the driver as Bettinger.
His pro-police posts on social media and the fact that his late father had worked as a police officer only seemed to irritate people more, according to the Daily Mail.
Just one day later, Bryant began demanding that school administrators expel Bettinger.
Bryant demanded school administrators expel Bettinger, alleging that she said protesters “would be ‘good obstacles.’” zysaidso/Instagram
“EMAIL these UVA deans now to demand that Morgan face the consequences of his actions and that UVA stop graduating racists,” he tweeted.
Bryant herself filed a complaint with the University’s Judicial Committee, a student-run disciplinary system, alleging that Bettinger had threatened the health and safety of students.
He found Bettinger guilty of making a legitimate threat against protesters, despite failing to prove Bryant’s claims about his intentions.
Jurors ruled that even saying those words harmlessly during a protest deserved punishment, according to documents obtained by Reason magazine.
Bettinger eventually graduated from UVA, but with a permanent mark on his record that will likely hinder his chances of getting into law school like he had dreamed of. The Jefferson Independent/YouTube
Bryant also filed a complaint with the school’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, claiming that Bettinger repeated the statement five times and had discriminated against her because of her race.
The EOCR office found that three of the five allegations could not be corroborated, and one report found that Bryant likely did not hear Bettinger’s comments firsthand after no witnesses could corroborate his version of events.
Bettinger eventually graduated from UVA but with a permanent mark on his record, Reason reported.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn