Clip of Ole Miss student making racist gestures at Black woman played at RNC sparks backlash

A video played at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Wednesday evening included a clip from earlier this year of a white fraternity member making monkey gestures at a Black woman on the University of Mississippi campus.

The video, meant to praise anti-“woke” college students, used a clip from early May in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators — protesting the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza — and counter-protesters confronted each other. 

As the white fraternity member approaches the Black woman and begins making the racist gestures, the announcer can be heard saying that these students are “giving us some hope there that not all college students have gone woke.”

The use of the video received backlash from Democrats, including the Biden campaign. 

“Donald Trump promised unity at his convention,” Biden campaign senior spokesperson Sarafina Chitika told The Hill in a statement. “Instead, he delivered bigotry, division, and straight-up racism that turned dog whistles into bullhorns."

"The video elevated by Trump and his RNC is beneath the office of the President, and it’s proof that their empty pandering to voters of color is nothing more than lip service to paper over decades of racism," Chitika added.

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, noted that the imagery showed how Republicans “really feel about us.”

“It really speaks loudly about what they really think and feel about us,” Seawright said. “In other words, they're saying the quiet part out loud.”

Social media users also expressed outrage, with one user asking if there will be “a cross burning to wrap things up?” Another user said there would be “no pushback from their base.”

The video received mixed reactions from political leaders when it first began circulating in the spring. Republican Rep. Mike Collins at the time praised the counterprotesters for “taking care of business.” 

He later walked back those comments and said, “If that person is found to have treated another human being improperly because of their race, they should be punished appropriately, and will hopefully seek forgiveness."

The NAACP blasted both the student and Collins, with President Derrick Johnson writing on social media platform X that “A Black Woman was victim to pandering, racist remarks and gestures, and hateful speech with the hope of breeding fear, isolation, and retreat."

"She marched forward anyway," he added. "I hope racists like Mike Collins took note of that as well."

The video was condemned by The Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters and that the male student was “removed” from the organization.