Shaun King’s scheduled speech at the University of North Alabama (UNA) finally happened on Thursday, after weeks of controversy leading up to the event, and the activist told the crowd that there was “no middle ground” between supporters of law enforcement and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in which King is a leader.
Per WHNT, UNA proudly hosted King to “to bring an honest and open discussion on race and police interaction, and a criminal justice system many students view as unfair.”
“In 2014, over 1,100 people were killed by police. And zero police officers, none, were held accountable,” King told the assembled crowd.
He continued, “Can we not agree that one percent of those were wrong? Can we not even find middle ground on that? And what we came to understand is that no, no there would be no middle ground,” King said.
King is no stranger to controversy, having come into the national spotlight for his role in hot-button, liberal social justice causes, including Michael Brown’s death and, later, Tamir Rice’s death. After House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot last year, King said that “banning white men would drastically reduce mass shootings.”
The BLM activist also has a track record of criticizing Alabamians.
When talking about members of a specific Alabama church supporting Roy Moore against Doug Jones, King said, “Please remember that most members of the KKK during previous generations not only attended churches, but were deacons and leaders there.”
Real talk
Donald Trump is a white supremacist.
After cursing Black men he OPENLY said from the mic tonight “I feel like I’m from Alabama.”
— Shaun King (@shaunking) September 23, 2017
The speech was ultimately funded, through UNA’s Housing and Residence Life division, by rent money that students pay to live on-campus. This means that students, without knowing it before the semester, paid for the event out of their own pocket, whether they attended the speech or even wanted King on campus at all.
“We’re excited about having someone here they know. Someone who’s relatable. Someone who’s active on social media,” Jennifer Sutton, Director of Housing and Residence Life, told WHNT.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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