Video Of UC Berkeley Student's Racist, Sexist, Homophobic Rant Draws Outrage
BERKELEY (KPIX 5) -- A video that purportedly shows a University of California, Berkeley student on a racist, sexist and homophobic rant is drawing a strong response from fellow students.
The unidentified young man's face is cropped out of the video as he uses a racial slur and proclaims his hatred against African American people.
"Black people getting rights…they should be like women," he continues.
When asked by another young man off camera why "black people are so bad," he slaps his hands hard.
"They're (expletive) black, do I need a reason?" he said. "I don't think they should have rights at all."
Later on the web site Reddit, someone claiming to be the person who recorded the video apologized, saying the two young men were "not in the clearest of minds" and that they never actually meant the words they expressed.
University officials issued a statement saying they are aware of an offensive video, but will not elaborate on any consequences: "The campus is taking appropriate action in response to this video being posted on social media. Due to federal laws and UC policy that protect student privacy, we do not discuss the situation of individual students."
"It's just terrible," said UC Berkeley student Harsha Moiya. "I mean, I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I hope there are repercussions because obviously, something like that should not be tolerated whatsoever."
"Regardless of what mindset he was in, the stuff he said was not okay," said student Lucas Garcia.
"I don't support anything he said by any means," said Grant Sutter, also a UC Berkeley student. "I've heard there a lot of threats have been said against him and I think that's a bit extreme."
Michael Peck, a UC Berkeley junior and a member of the Cal Black Student Union, pointed out that the young man in the video happens to have darker skin.
"He is my color. Do you see this? We're the same color! And even if we weren't the same color, it still doesn't make sense," Peck said.
"To me this video was a hate crime," Peck continued. "He wanted to express hate on a group of people such as myself and women - he actually marginalized women as well in the video--and it was a hate crime. I think he should be expelled and I think he should be banned from the Cal Campus because this is a scary matter. You never know what's going to happen next."
