(South Africa) Bloemfontein students admit humiliating black campus staff

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Four white former students in South Africa today pleaded guilty to humiliating five black workers in an infamous internet video. The case of the "Reitz Four" – named after their university hall of residence – has been one of the most inflammatory in South Africa's tortuous journey towards racial reconciliation.

The video, shot in 2007, showed five black employees of Free State University in Bloemfontein being forced to re-enact initiation rights for students. The four middle-aged women and one man were made to drink full bottles of beer and perform athletic tasks.

The final extract of the film appeared to show a white male urinating on food, then shouting "Take! Take!" in Afrikaans – compelling the campus employees to eat it and causing them to vomit.

In a surprise move at Bloemfontein magistrates court today, former students Roelof Malherbe, Schalk van der Merwe, Danie Grobler and Johnny Roberts pleaded guilty to illegally and deliberately injuring another person's dignity.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/bloemfontein-students-black-staff-campus

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And conservatives say that modern racism is a liberal myth. Too bad of all the evidence. This video is much realer than the Shirley Sherrod video.

By the way, Tea Party hero Ronald Reagan was slow to condemn South Africa apartheid.

[Judi Lynn]

1. White students forced black cleaners to eat urine-soaked meat as 'protest' against racially integrat

Source: Daily Mail

White students forced black cleaners to eat urine-soaked meat as 'protest' against racially integrated halls of residence
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 7:39 PM on 27th July 2010

http://i.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/i/pix/2010/07/27/article-1298087-0A971E3B000005DC-82_468x314.jpg

Racist video: The four university students, from left, Schalk van der
Merwe, Johnny Roberts, RC Malherbe and Dane Grobler, at court today.
They made a video three years ago in which they convinced black
leaning staff to humiliate themselves. The incident caused a national
outcry

Four white students have pleaded guilty to charges surrounding a video they made humiliating black university employees by forcing them to consume food and drinks that they thought were tainted with urine.

The men on trial, all students at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, today admitted charges of illegally and deliberately injuring another person's dignity. They will be sentenced tomorrow when they are expected to be fined up to £3,000 and not be jailed.

The video showed the university employees - four middle-aged women and one man - being forced to re-enact the initiation rights normally given to students trying to get into halls of residence. The staff were allegedly forced to drink full bottles of beer and perform athletic tasks. But it is the final extract of the film that drew outright condemnation.

A white student urinates on food, and then shouts 'Take! Take!' in Afrikaans. The university employees are then forced to eat the dirty food, which causes them to vomit.




Read more: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1298087/White-students-forced-black-cleaners-eat-urine-soaked-meat-protest-racially-integrated-halls-residence.html

[NC_Nurse]

2. Disgusting.

[flvegan]

3. Not jailed?

Sigh. Legal/sentencing fail.

[ZombieHorde]

4. So fucked up. nt

[FiveGoodMen]

5. "Hey, you know something people? I'm not black...

But there's a whole lots a times I wish I could say I'm not white"

-- Frank Zappa from Trouble Every Day.

[eleny]

6. Seems like they might need bodyguards for a while

[provis99]

7. they'd fit right in with white students at Ole Miss.

I still remember how the frat boys used to shout "nigger!" at my Indian girlfriend as I walked her to her dorm room in International student housing.

[bullwinkle428]

8. Breitbart laughing, spreads his wings.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Excellent paraphrasing, there!

:headbang: O8) :evilgrin:

[valerief]

9. Future leaders of the world, I'm sure. nt

[Jkid]

13. Fined! I expect them to go to Jail!

Then again, South African Prisons are overcrowded.

[daleo]

10. They may be served some interesting meals themselves

Now that people know about this, they might want to stay away from restaurants. I bet there are cooks and servers out there (black and white) who would be tempted to give them a taste of their own medicine.

[Judi Lynn]

15. It would be good to believe their karma awaits! n/t

[Wednesdays]

11. How is this not kidnapping?

I mean, the victims had to have been held against their will, right? Which is by definition, kidnapping? Doesn't that carry some minimum prison time? :shrug:

[mike r]

14. "...students said they had been 'crucified as racists' "

Playing the victim card as usual.