This morning, a pastor named Michael McBride tweeted a photo of a lynched effigy at Sather Gate on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
Heading to UCBERKELEY campus to stand and address effigy found hanging this morning. Join me http://t.co/G2aQ6BG6ns
— Michael McBride (@pastormykmac) December 13, 2014
Praying and standing with my students #ICantBreathe #FergusonNBeyond #EricGarner #Ferguson2CAL http://t.co/7JADcNGKiW
— Michael McBride (@pastormykmac) December 13, 2014
Just arrived to hear 3 effigy found. UC berkeley police took em down & said we took care of it. We have one in our possession #Ferguson2CAL
— Michael McBride (@pastormykmac) December 13, 2014
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Here’s one of the others:
http://instagram.com/p/wjqJq_juDE/
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Initial reaction is about what you’d expect:
About to Rt something ugly and triggering there's a noose up and an effigy at Berkeley protest #smfh
— SkyWoWo Berry (@DrSkyWowo) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/Pirate_Berkeley/status/543836976420368384
wtaf with these lynching effigies at UC of Berkeley. Appalling. Sorry that anyone had to witness those.
— r. (@setinreality) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/j_mannykrasey/status/543836325464797184
Aren't college campuses, especially Berkeley, covered in cameras? How does one put an effigy up and no one sees it happen? That's awful.
— sarah sprague (@sarah_sprague) December 13, 2014
Powerful image MT @theshrillest: A lynched effigy on the UC Berkeley campus. In 2014. #ICantBreathe pic.twitter.com/be9QOBUxJR
— Chris Mann (@digitalsausage) December 13, 2014
WTF. A lynching in effigy at Berkeley?!
— KMFDT (@KMFDT) December 13, 2014
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Surely UCBerkeley has plenty of security cams, can tell who hung the effigy on Sather Gate. Was it the cops?
— CurlingRiver (@CurlingRiver) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/GMalandrucco/status/543835980500070401
What’s happening at #UCBerkeley does NOT surprise me. Institutionalized Racism is even deep rooted in the liberal state of California
— W.E.B. DuBarnes (@DrTGIF) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/DontBeShyx3/status/543846593334489088
https://twitter.com/cherancarter/status/543846939478208512
https://twitter.com/Bamy_C/status/543846903423578112
Many seem to assume this was a hate crime perpetrated by a racist student, townie, or police officer. The assumption is not justified. Given that this occurred in Berkeley, this probably was an ill-conceived attempt by left-wing anti-police protesters to show solidarity with victims of police brutality.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
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