{"id":650819,"date":"2021-08-16T11:36:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T15:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=650819"},"modified":"2021-08-16T11:36:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T15:36:36","slug":"daughter-of-cop-punished-by-uva-for-racist-remark-after-social-justice-protesters-harassed-doxxed-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/daughter-of-cop-punished-by-uva-for-racist-remark-after-social-justice-protesters-harassed-doxxed-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughter Of Cop Punished By UVA For \u2018Racist\u2019 Remark After Social Justice Protesters Harassed, Doxxed Her"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdaughter-of-cop-punished-by-uva-for-racist-remark-after-social-justice-protesters-harassed-doxxed-her%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=650819&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1015316476.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>In the age of instant cancellation \u2014 just add Twitter \u2014 sometimes all it takes is one offhand remark to be overheard or misheard, and a nonentity can become an overnight pariah.<\/p>\n<p>That is what happened to a University of Virginia student last summer whose senior year became the \u201cyear from hell\u201d after she raised the hackles of local racial justice activists.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan Bettinger was driving home on Friday, July 17 last year when she found her way blocked by protesters participating in the Black Women Matter Noise Demo on E High Street in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>The demonstrators were illegally blocking the road, her lawyer claims, and Bettinger was unable to drive past them, so the college senior parked her car and spoke briefly to a city dump truck driver who was blocking the road. According to Bettinger, she remarked to him that \u201cit\u2019s good that you are here or they could become speed bumps,\u201d referring to the protesters.<\/p>\n<p>Two protesters overheard pieces of that conversation and immediately spread the word that Bettinger had said that \u201cthe protesters would make good speed bumps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the organizers of the demonstration, Zyahna Bryant, a rising sophomore at UVA, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZyahnaB\/status\/1284481959964672004\">posted<\/a> Bettinger\u2019s name on social media, calling her a racist and urging her fellow students to demand her expulsion. There is no known video of Bettinger making the remark, although Bryant <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZyahnaB\/status\/1284498117287608322\">claimed<\/a> that at least 30 people witnessed it.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant also posted video of the aftermath of the incident, which showed protesters surrounding Bettinger\u2019s car and shouting at her, calling her a \u201cKaren\u201d and mocking her for \u201ccrying.\u201d The protesters follow her car as she backs away from them. Her windows are rolled up and she appears to be on her cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Other Twitter users attempted to dox Bettinger, posting more of her personal information including her license plate number, email address, and Facebook profile, as well as the fact that her father was a police officer.<\/p>\n<p>By Sunday, the school had gotten involved. The Dean of Students\u2019 office had been flooded with angry demands for action against Bettinger. UVA issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UVA\/status\/1284910947354783745\">statement<\/a> saying it \u201cstrongly condemns any threat directed at other members of our community\u201d and said it was aware of the allegations against Bettinger and was \u201cactively investigating\u201d them.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant filed complaints with both the student-run University Judiciary Committee (UJC) and the university\u2019s independent investigatory arm, the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR), alleging Bettinger had harassed the protesters on the basis of race. In September, the UJC held a trial and found Bettinger guilty of violating the UVA standards of conduct. The university ordered her to perform 50 hours of community service at an approved social justice organization as well as complete three hours of remedial education. She also had to draft a letter of apology to Bryant and submit it to the UJC for approval. Bettinger was also slapped with a suspension, meaning that if she violated the standards of conduct again she could be expelled.<\/p>\n<p>Bettinger appealed the UJC conviction, but her appeal was denied, at which point she was only about a month away from graduation. The university was requiring her to complete all the sanctions before it would grant her degree, so she complied.<\/p>\n<p>After graduation, the EOCR\u2019s investigation concluded in favor of Bettinger, finding that her comment was \u201cnot clearly threatening.\u201d The EOCR is not run by students.<\/p>\n<p>Bettinger filed her own complaints with both the UJC and EOCR, saying Bryant had fabricated her version of the \u201cspeed bumps\u201d remark and spread the rumor online. Both complaints were dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Bettinger described the past year as \u201ca year from hell,\u201d saying she received death threats and feared for her and her mother\u2019s safety. She also lost her job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only is your final year of college supposed to be the most memorable, ending on a high note, and instead I was harassed constantly, receiving death threats online, having to worry about how this is affecting my family, having extra protection at the house, knowing of the threats that were posed to my mom and I,\u201d she told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been such an incredibly challenging year just trying to make it through, getting through classes, making sure I could keep my grades up, trying to write my thesis, and trying to work full-time because I put myself through school,\u201d she said, adding that the ordeal also had a \u201chuge impact\u201d on her mental health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not wish this on anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, Bryant has attracted national media attention for spearheading a 2016 petition to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from Charlottesville.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/zyahna-bryant-charlottesville-lee-statue\/2021\/07\/17\/9073933e-e688-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=wp_main&amp;utm_source=twitter\">Washington Post<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/8xdkj5\/this-teenager-made-history-and-pissed-off-racists-everywhere\">Vice<\/a>,&nbsp;and the Southern Poverty Law Center\u2019s social justice education <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningforjustice.org\/magazine\/charlottesvilles-zyahna-bryant-shall-lead\">project<\/a> have all published favorable profiles of Bryant, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teenvogue.com\/story\/charlottesvilles-robert-e-lee-monument-coming-down-black-women-zyahna-bryant-op-ed?mbid=social_twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_social-type=owned&amp;utm_brand=tv\">Teen Vogue<\/a> published an op-ed by the young racial justice activist when the Lee statue was eventually dismantled. Her activism has been featured prominently in many other publications including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/16\/us\/charlottesville-riots-black-students-schools.html\">New York Times<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/07\/10\/us\/charlottesville-statues-coming-down\/index.html\">CNN<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2017\/12\/04\/the-fight-over-virginias-confederate-monuments?mbid=social_twitter\">New Yorker<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/ikrd\/robert-e-lee-statue-charlottesville-confederate-general\">Buzzfeed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we keep erecting these statues, when we keep putting up new Confederate flags, when we continue to put out these narratives into history books and into course materials, we are sending the message that we wish the South had won and thus that we wish that slavery was still maintained,\u201d Bryant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=2949880181902656\">said<\/a> last year on an NBC News panel.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition to the statue\u2019s proposed removal was the ostensible motivation behind the 2017 Unite the Right rally, the white supremacist protest that turned deadly when a protester rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one woman, Heather Heyer. The driver, who held white supremacist views, was convicted of murder and dozens of hate crime charges and was given multiple life sentences. The confrontation between Bettinger and the protesters occurred just blocks away from where Heyer was killed.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant was also a member of the UVA student council last year. In November, she was criticized for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaf\/status\/1329455415667646467\">remarks<\/a> she made during a legislative session when the council was debating what to do about a professor who made a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaf\/status\/1329455298768232454\">joke<\/a> that some students found racist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFree speech, since we want to be Constitution buffs or whatever, guess what\u2019s not protected? Hate speech,\u201d Bryant <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaf\/status\/1329455447376617476\">told<\/a> a student council member who disagreed with her. Video of the meeting was flagged at the time by Young America\u2019s Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the meeting, Bryant <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaf\/status\/1329455498156978179\">warned<\/a> the student council that she hopes \u201cwe don\u2019t have to revisit this conversation in the same way again because next time it\u2019s not going to be as cute and classy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UVA did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The school has also not responded to Bettinger\u2019s lawyer, Charles Weber, who sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baconsrebellion.com\/wp\/another-free-speech-fiasco-at-uva\/\">letter<\/a> to UVA President James Ryan requesting that Bettinger\u2019s UJC conviction and sanctions be expunged from her senior year record.<\/p>\n<p>UVA has not responded to a similar letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which demanded that the university clear Bettinger\u2019s record as well as implement a policy to prevent students from being punished by the school for their \u201cconstitutionally-protected expression.\u201d FIRE requested a response by August 10.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIRE is disappointed that UVA has not responded to our letter raising concerns about this speech,\u201d the group said in a statement to The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it cannot defend its punishment of Morgan Bettinger for protected expression, UVA must immediately rescind it and commit to refraining from punishing protected expression in the future. Although the chilling effect on student speech has already been felt, UVA must remedy the situation by expunging its punishment from Bettinger\u2019s record,\u201d FIRE said.<\/p>\n<p>Weber warned that UVA has committed a \u201cpretty severe constitutional violation\u201d against Bettinger and that she has a right to have her record expunged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we would have a case in court to do that,\u201d Weber told The Daily Wire. \u201cWe\u2019re not threatening anything,\u201d he said, but UVA\u2019s president is \u201ccertainly on notice that that\u2019s where this case could go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the age of instant cancellation \u2014 just add Twitter \u2014 sometimes all it takes is one offhand remark to be overheard or misheard, and a nonentity can become an &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-650819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}