Mayo King disaster: White student alleges racial discrimination in $2 million lawsuit against Howard University
Here’s a fact; Despite white and tearful claims by whites that HBCUs are inherently racist because they exclude whites, Caucasian students can and do attend black colleges, and even receive minority scholarships to do so. But every once in a while, a story pops up about one choosing to do so, ultimately leading to current students and alumni scratching their heads.
Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty
Meet Michael Newman.
According to Fox 6, Newman attended Howard University School of Law on a scholarship until he was expelled in September 2022 because black students at the school criticized a number of remarks they considered racist (or at least problematic AF) Newman during various interactions. But, to have Newman tell it, his experiences at the university, as well as his expulsion, caused him “pain, suffering, emotional anguish, and damage to his reputation,” which is why he has filed a $2 million racial discrimination lawsuit against the university .
Now UUUU know better. SMH
Fox 6 reports that problems arose after Howard switched to distance learning early in the pandemic, which meant students communicated through online-only forums and through GroupMe chats.
According to Newman’s lawsuit, one of those chats caused arguments and led to myriad other “problems.”
After a symposium with an African-American speaker ahead of the 2020 election, Newman said he posted on a professor’s forum page asking if further dialogue could be had about “whether: (1) Black voters weren’t challenging themselves to government is seeking solutions, and (2) consistently voting the same party in every election has prevented both parties from responding to the needs of black communities.”
Some students reacted negatively to Newman’s post and contacted the school administration, which the allegations led to Newman being removed from one of his group chats for the class.
Newman also described feeling “completely disenfranchised” at school, comparing himself to a black student at a mostly white university. Student reaction was again largely negative, with some calling his comment “offensive,” he claimed.
Newman repeatedly apologized for offending someone and stressed that he wanted “not just to learn law, but to learn the thoughts and experiences of people of color,” according to the lawsuit.
Newman claims that despite his attempts at apologies, he was labeled the “Mayo King” and “white panther,” with students claiming the “controversies” they accuse Newman of causing “severe stress” and “distracted them from their studies.” .
Newman attempted to remedy the situation by sending out a four-part letter setting out his views, but the effort was dubbed a “manifesto,” with one student accusing him of “manipulation.” [classmates’] Emotions…as a social experiment,” the lawsuit said. The letters reportedly resulted in Newman being removed from a second class-wide group chat.
So, according to the lawsuit, Newman feels he only received so much backlash for his controversial statements because he knows what honestly might be true, but not for the reason he thinks.
It’s not that his white skin in and of itself prevents him from having opinions on matters affecting the black collective. But blacks tend not to value contributions on black issues that come from people who have no lived experience as black or even as a person of color in a white-dominated world. It just smells like white privilege.
And before white people start calling me hypocritical for what they perceive to be racial double standards, they have to honestly ask themselves how many times it has crossed their minds to poll other white people about how they vote, why they vote, and how the simple action is to vote means to “reach out to the government to find solutions”.
It probably didn’t help Newman’s case much either that black students learned that Newman had previously tweeted a picture of a slave being flogged with the caption, “But we don’t know what he did before the picture was taken,” to the lawsuit Newman was defending , claiming it was designed to mock people who “try to explain away videos of police brutality by claiming the victim must have committed wrongdoing before the video was started”. (OK, but if white people are included in Black Spaces, they might really want to learn how to read a melanized space.)
Anyway, things eventually got so bad between Newman and his black peers that the administrators decided it was time to give the boot to Newman.
More from Fox 6:
School of Law Dean Danielle Holley later secretly recorded a Zoom meeting she set up with Newman and McGahee, at which she suggested Newman transfer to a different school and accused him of racially harassing classmates, so the allegations.
During a digital town hall attended by 300 attendees to discuss controversies surrounding Newman, Holley allegedly called Newman’s letters “disturbing in every sense of the word,” according to the lawsuit. She reportedly prevented him from using multiple features to speak out in his defense and even disabled chat and turned off his camera.
Holley and Newman eventually filed complaints simultaneously, with Holley accusing Newman of “continuously harassing a member.” [sic] of the Howard Law community and disrupting the learning environment at the School of Law.” At the same time, Newman alleged that Holley had perpetuated “threats,” “discrimination,” and a “hostile academic environment.”
In a panel reviewing Holley’s complaint, the school found Newman “responsible” and ordered he be expelled.
Meanwhile, Frank Tramble, Howard’s vice president and chief communications officer, told Fox 6 the school will “vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit as the allegations provide a one-sided and self-serving account of the events leading up to the student’s ending of enrollment.” the university”.
Several people wonder if the student’s enrollment was a ruse all along to file the lawsuit.
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Let’s keep it 💯. This guy specifically went to Howard to file this lawsuit. https://t.co/B0iFJ5ESpD
— #FreeBuddhaMichael🇵🇷 (@BurnerBuddha) February 27, 2023
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“Newman also compared himself in a Zoom chat box as a white student at a historically black university to a black student attending a predominantly white school and said he felt ‘entirely disenfranchised.'”
Screw that racist troll and his flimsy lawsuit. https://t.co/Suu32W7QrW
— A Shady Lady from Seville (@SorayaMcDonald) February 28, 2023
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This guy had an agenda from the moment he applied. SMH. https://t.co/D9WgjOvKyP
— OJ Spivey (@OJPhilly) February 27, 2023
Happy last day of Black History Month! smh…
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