26 Social Buzz

The University of Utah has responded to the presence of posters stating “It’s OK To Be White” on its campus, saying it will not deter their efforts for diversity and inclusion.

In a statement, the school’s Office for Equity and Diversity said yesterday the posters were part of a “nationwide campaign” meant to divide its community. “If, indeed, these tactics are meant to silence our work in diversity and inclusion, please know we shall not be deterred. We will continue to engage our campus in critical discussions and work together to enact real change,” the statement wrote, as quoted by Fox13Now.

The controversial posters come in the wake of heated protests by hundreds of students against white nationalist Ben Shapiro’s speech at the university in late September.

As if this country needed a reminder, "It's ok to be white" signs pop up on campuses all over the U.S. https://t.co/eWEjQJD3zO pic.twitter.com/pbfacVFgkV — Blavity (@Blavity) November 7, 2017

At the event, Shapiro said: “This is America, you are essentially free to do what you want. Freedom is harsh, freedom is unsparing. It means you are responsible for your own decisions.”

Utah isn’t the only campus seeing these posters. According to Washington Post, they have been appearing in universities and streets nationwide, such as Concordia College in Moorhead, Tulane University in New Orleans and the college town of Cambridge in Massachusetts.

Look What Happens When You Say “It’s OK To Be White” – https://t.co/hG0c3KcqfP pic.twitter.com/KfTy6D0Ue8 — Virginia Dare (@vdare) November 6, 2017

It has also been spotted on social media platforms, in the form of images and hashtags.

It was reportedly prompted by an anonymous chat-room comment that asked people to print the poster and watch while the fun begins – fun meaning watching the message stoke social unrest and sway white Americans to far-right ideologies.

Here’s how the post predicted how the poster could convert regular white Americans to the white nationalist, alt-right agenda:

Print posters

Media organisations will report on posters

White Americans reading these news reports will “discover” that the journalists and “lefties” hate white Americans

They will then discredit these media organisations, a big win in the alt-right’s culture war

Conversion complete

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