As Yale students departed their protest-filled campus for Thanksgiving break, they left behind sounds of harmony in the courtyard where the friction all began.
The courtyard — of Silliman residential college — was where students encircled their residential college “master” for an hours-long shouting confrontation that went viral on YouTube and was followed by weeks of protest over racial issues on campus.
A group called “Voices of Color at Yale” assembled in the courtyard to “stand with” their “peers of color, at Yale and beyond” with a stirring version of the Ben E. King classic “Stand by Me,” in the name of “healing through music and reclaiming our spaces.”
The resulting YouTube video is making the rounds. Unlike an earlier clip of the original confrontation, this video might not make the rounds of right-wing media outlets looking to caricature protesting students as out-of-control, disrespectful, inarticulate whiners. But it’s getting around. Click above to watch and listen.
The media didn't need to caricature the students. They did a great job on their own and this embarrassing PR push just reinforces it. I didn't know that fascism comes with its own music videos but I guess it's the new century.