Friday, April 8, 2016

Faramade Ifaturoti and Racial Claim

Faramade Ifaturoti, a biomedical science student at the university, posted a picture of the racist incident on Twitter – according to her tweet, a flatmate had scrawled 'monkey' and 'n***a on the skin of her bananas.
She wrote: “Just entered the kitchen and look at what one of my flatmates has  done. I am extremely disgusted.”
Her tweet sparked a trend in the UK - #WeStandWithFara was a top trending topic on Tuesday night.
It was also retweeted over 2,000 times.

twitter
CREDIT: TWITTER
Let's consider her tweet. 
Tweets are often abbreviated and often lack pronouns. 

 “Just entered the kitchen and look at what one of my flatmates has  done. I am extremely disgusted.”

We note that she began without the pronoun "I", which, by itself, may not be very alarming since it is a tweet and tweets are often made without pronouns. 
However, as we continue, we note that the pronoun "I" does enter her statement, which makes her dropping of the pronoun "I" to be considered:  "reduced commitment" of what happened. 
Next we note where she began her statement as this speaks to importance. 
"Just entered the kitchen" has, literally, no one "just" (time) entering the kitchen, since it drops the pronoun.  
It puts the location, "kitchen" before the incident. 
This short opening is more consistent with story telling rather than reporting something that is frightening (hormonal increase). 
We note that the full article quotes someone else as saying that the victim is seeking comfort and is very distressed at what happened.  This is not consistent with the language she chose to use. 
"Kitchen" comes before the finding, and it is without a pronoun.  These are two indicators of weakness in her assertion. 
Next, her priority shifts, not to the event, but to her audience, "look", is directed to those who will view her post. 

Then, we have the flatmate given the possessive pronoun "my", which is not expected in something that is revolting or traumatizing (insulting, etc).  This is to show closeness to whoever did this. 
Continue to note:  her disgust is "extreme", with only a photo to express why.  Her disgust is considered "sensitive" at this point. 
The school responded with a strong condemnation of racism with the additional wording to commit to an investigation under a specific condition:

"If" a formal complaint is made. 

This cased the subject, "Fara", to further complain about the school's reaction. 
The school condemned racism and offered support.  This should cause the reader to ask,
"What else does Fara want or expect?"
There are enough sensitivity indicators to investigate Fara for either knowing who did this, (withholding this) or that she, herself, orchestrated this and wants more than just condemnation and investigation.  The school responded to the Tweet because, it appears, no complaint was made to them.  Instead, the subject took the issue to the public, which is reflected in the priority of her tweet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/06/warwick-university-investigates-racist-slurs-scrawled-on-student/

29 comments:

Tania Cadogan said...

I wonder what she would do if she was told the police were going to be involved?
I also wonder what would she say if they said they would be taking prints from the bananas and any black marker pens?

Is she struggling at uni?
Are there problems between her and her flatmates?
What race(s) are the flatmates?
What is she expecting to get from this publicity?
Why did she not report it to the uni?
Why did she post it on twitter?
Are her and her flatmates willing to be polygraphed?
I wonder what she would say if they asked her what would make her feel better?
Has she started a gofundme yet?
Has someone started one on her behalf?

Statement Analysis Blog said...

When my three oldest boys were little, I routinely referred to them as monkeys. It was a term of endearment.

Years later, I was in a home where a little boy jumped on me and I said to the father, "What a cute little monkey!"

he was furious.

I said, "Go easy, it is what I called my sons" and pulled a photo out of my wallet.

he was ready to claim "racist!" on me. Sad, too, as he was a good dad and buying into the "I'm a victim" does more to negate drive and initiative than it helps, allowing one to stew and burn...as others out work him in life.

Peter

John Mc Gowan said...

Snipped:

In February, Ms Ifaturoti, who according to her Twitter page is a first-year biomedical science student, complained about racism in a separate message when she wrote: “Racism is very real. Especially in this Warwick I can’t lie.

Speaking to the Independent, 19-year-old Warwick law and sociology student, Jere Agbaje, who said she is a friend of Ms Ifaturoti, described how the student had her shopping delivered to her Warwick student accommodation on Monday night at around 10pm.

Ms Agbaje continued: “She unpacked and stored her shopping, whilst four of her flatmates were in the kitchen. Today, when she came into the kitchen, to her horror, those shocking racial slurs and dehumanising remarks were branded on her bananas.

“I have been in contact with Fara, and she is incredibly shaken and shocked. She is currently being comforted by her friends and family. This is been an incredibly distressing ordeal for her.”


Since the incident was reported, a solidarity campaign entitled #WeStandWithFara has begun to trend online.

Is gofundme next, as Tania mentioned.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/warwick-university-investigates-racist-banana-incident-in-student-halls-a6970086.html

John Mc Gowan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Mc Gowan said...

I wonder if the spelling of N****R with 2 "G"s and an "A" holds any significance. It's rare to see it spelt this way. From what iv'e come across anyway.

CptKD said...

Funny & Ironic!
I use the term 'Monkey' as a term of endearment often, as well!
I get called & am referenced to a 'Monkey' by a 'select' few in my inner Social Circle . . . And this dates back to when I was a kid, with some!
In some of my 'personal' correspondence - A 'Monkey' avatar/pic or 'sticker' is used to further 'communicate' my feelings and/or emotions!

I'd never dream/think/mean to imply ANYTHING 'foul' by using the 'Term' or posting anything 'Referencing' a MONKEY!

Wow!
I've learned something new today - Regarding, of all things - MONKEYS!!!

CptKD said...

John - I believe that it is the 'Slang' way of spelling the actual word
&
In effect, is also the way of spelling it, how some 'speak' or actually 'ENUNCIATE' it!

Hey Jude said...

What about her February tweet:

"Racism is very real. Especially in this Warwick I can’t lie.”

Lol, I think she can.

Hey Jude said...

Sorry to duplicate the tweet, John - I should have refreshed the page.

Shannon In CA said...

This is what frustrates me. So many seem so willing to see completely innocuous things as racist. I read an anecdote where a woman was looking at makeup and asked the salesgirl which shade of foundation would look best on her. The customer was holding three different shades, all far too light for her skin tone and the salesgirl said (in the story, to the rarer) that the woman was already wearing too light foundation...so it was already a habit.

The girl told the customer she pulled out three of the darker shades and said she thought they'd match her skin tone better. Keep in mind the customer ASKED FOR HELP MATCHING HER SKIN TONE.

The customer lost it on the salesgirl, claiming she'd only picked the darker foundation because she was black. The girl said "ummmm....yes...in the sense that because your race is black, your skin tone is darker and I just think these shades would match your skin tone better than the lighter shades you are using."

Who seriously asks for help and then claims someone is racist because they try to do exactly what they were asked to do? Crazy.

The girl said the woman came back I a couple weeks later and was wearing a darker shade...so apparently she decided the darker DID look better.

But how sad that she thought lighter was better to begin with instead of embracing her actual skin tone, and then acting like someone else is racist because they have the gall to think you'd look better if you actually DID pick the best makeup for your skin tone. It's a really sad victim mentality...it's so unnecessary. There is enough actual racism I thank world...seeing it in everything when it doesn't actually exist just causes more problems and it causes people to disbelieve stories that are real. It's like the boy who cried wolf...you don't know when to fight for justice vs when it's just an exaggerated story.

Shannon In CA said...

Excuse my typos...my fingers don't work too well and hit the wrong keys sometimes on my iPhone and autocorrect will often lick the wrong word.

Rarer was meant to be reader (the salesgirl was, in the story, telling the READER that the customer was already using the wrong color foundation).

Anonymous said...

there is definitely somebody "crying wolf"", here:
3 is the liar's number.
according to the statement itself: the girl didn't ask for "help matching her skin tone", she asked which of the 3 shades she had picked out for herself looked best on her.
typo or freudian slip: "there is enough actual racism I thank world"
the woman's feelings amount to her "gall"
"a victim mentality"? or "the customer is always right?"
it sounds like the salesgirl felt victimized by losing a sale to a customer she mis-read (always be closing!)
are you "frustrated" that a salesgirl lacked tact and paid the price? or that dark-skinned millennials call out benign racism more than their grandparents did?

Anonymous said...

The first 4 words of her first tweet about the incident were "Just entered the kitchen..."

I think I would have tweeted "Look what I just found scrawled on my bananas!" or "OMG, look what I just discovered written on my bananas!"

It wouldn't be important to me to start my tweet with information regarding how long I had been in the kitchen.

Tania Cadogan said...

Anonymous said...

The first 4 words of her first tweet about the incident were "Just entered the kitchen..."

I think I would have tweeted "Look what I just found scrawled on my bananas!" or "OMG, look what I just discovered written on my bananas!"

It wouldn't be important to me to start my tweet with information regarding how long I had been in the kitchen.

April 8, 2016 at 4:52 PM


This is called the expected.

Hey Jude said...

I think, if that had really happened she would have more sense than to put it on Twitter, and to leave all her flatmates open to public suspicion when, if it had been a flatmate, and she had a good relationship with any of them, she would think better than to do that. She would have taken her bananas to whoever investigates incidents, and made a less public complaint, so as not to unnecessarily implicate all of her flatmates. Perhaps she thinks they are all racists, whether they are or not, so she doesn't care about making them all look bad - some people are like that.

Tania Cadogan said...

We have a cheeky monkees where i live, it is an indoor play and kids party zone according to its blurb.
Kids are often called a cheeky monkey or just monkey when they are climbing all over the place or being mischievous.
Probably because monkeys are seen as cheeky,funny, always getting into mischief and the like.

Anyhow, as an aside Peter, I got to pondering as i do and i wondered this:

Do fiction writers make good analysts or could they?

I ask as i read a lot of books, often repeatedly if i haven't read a particular one in a while.
To write, one has to be fluent with words and their meanings, a single word can convey many things intentional or not.
They also have to get inside the heads of their characters, especially the main ones.
They need to know what their character is thinking, what makes them do this or that, how they would react in a situation, what makes them tick.
To write about the character, they have to BE the character, some being more successful than others.

As a reader, I too need to become the character, to understand who and what they are, how they would react.
More so when there are a series of books featuring the same character.
When someone else writes in a collaboration, it is sometimes easy to see who wrote what due to the language, the descriptions, the subtle changes.

Another thing i have noticed with some authors and not quite as obvious with others, is they leak.
I noticed this when i went to a comedy show.
I was listening and enjoying myself as were the audience, and the comedian said something that made my ears prick and caused me to listen much closer.
He probably didn't even realize he had leaked anything, it was funny and we all laughed hysterically.
It was strange knowing the audience were laughing at what he said without catching the leak.
I was laughing as well, both at the joke and also because he told me something he didn't want known.

Bottle Cap said...

Anyone want to analyze this statement from a friend of Former KU football player Brandon Kyle Bourbon who was missing for six days and just found dead. Posted on Facebook while Brandon was still missing.

Kyle Marler April 4 at 6:35pm
"I don't really know where Brandon K. Bourbon is, I know everybody believes I do but I feel like since I spent nearly everyday with him the last two weeks that I know where he is. I know what we talked about and I am going to find my friend. I know nobody understands this and I don't get that much of it myself but I do understand WHY he would want to run away for awhile. If anybody wants to listen to me and help me I'll tell you where we need to start looking. Please say some prayers that my friend is found safe and sound. Please share this post to spread awareness."

Anonymous said...

Re Brandon Bourbon: News stories this morning are saying he killed himself. Here's an April 4 article - It says the photo of him here was taken the day he disappeared. Does that look like someone who is suicidal?

http://www.wibwnewsnow.com/former-washburn-university-football-player-missing/

John Mc Gowan said...

OT Update:

FINAL RADIO PODCAST ON DEORR KUNZ JR. CASE RELEASED

CLICK PLAY BUTTON ABOVE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

EDITOR’S NOTE: In an effort to support local journalism programs, EastIdahoNews.com will periodically be running content written or broadcast by student journalists at local universities and high schools. The following podcast was broadcast by Erin Quaranta, a communications major at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

REXBURG — A lot of claims have circulated about what happened to missing 2-year-old Deorr Kunz, Jr. In this episode, we hear the perspective of the private investigator and the attorney of the father.

This is the third of three episodes in this podcast that will explore the case, the people involved and where the investigators are at in the process of finding little Deorr.

Listen to the first and second episodes at the links below for more information.

http://www.eastidahonews.com/2016/04/final-radio-podcast-on-deorr-kunz-jr-case-broadcast/

Truth lover said...

It's racist to falsely accuse a white person of racism.

We have to self-censor and put up with more abuse and lies than any race on the planet.

CptKD said...

Precisely, Tania!
'Anon' nailed it there!

Anyone speaking in 'True' tongue - Probably would've spoken it 'similar' to how she/he worded it!!!

Droll Skeptic said...

Let me break down the force driving this (and other similar) fake-hate lies:
This was an attempt by a student to end a non-racially motivated disagreement between flatmates by invoking the ever-popular: "Shut-up, you're white" clause. End of story.

It isn't even just limited to race.
Blaming the supposedly white/cis-gendered/male patriarchy is the left wing's answer to...everything. It's all about the subjective "feelings" of people society agrees to view as marginalized, therefore there's no longer any place for objective truth...especially if *objective truth* might disrupt the "narrative".
If outright lying furthers the "noble cause" of your narrative, well, then its justifiable by this rationale.

No one is ever responsible for their own lives, actions or circumstances: its the fault of some shadowy "oppressor". Can't prove it? No problem, just make it up. No one will challenge you, lest they be loudly decried a bigot, and risk unfounded demonization by an angry public, destruction of their livelihood, social status and possibly even loss of their freedom.
Just ask citizens of the UK who have been JAILED for daring to criticize Islam, and charged with hate speech crimes for publicly reading famous Winston Churchill quotes.

This is what society gets when social Marxism takes over:
Victim status is used as a convenient weapon against anyone not deemed the member of an entitled/protected minority. This means that ACTUAL hate-mongers and oppressors are free to use this social atmosphere for their own agendas.

Ironically, this mindset which believes that it is working toward a more open and liberal society where hate will be abolished--by denying that objective reality, or truth, even exists--is actually paving the way to allow THE MOST hateful, violent, oppressive culture on planet earth to take over Europe. A former beacon of freedom and human rights.
JMHO

Anonymous said...

Used as a racial slur, it's spelled Ni**er; used in hip-hop culture, it's spelled Ni**a. I guess, in her rush to post a patently-false racist story, she forgot racist white people use the former.

Rose said...

Yep, racist whites "stick the landing" as Bill Burr once said. They do not use "ni**a". I am confident this woman scrawled on the bananas herself. Once again, we have a race hoax that people will blindly believe and donate money to the "victim".

I feel really sorry for this woman's poor flatmates.

Tania Cadogan said...

I wonder what her reaction would be if asked along with the flatmates to provide a handwriting sample.

I wonder what she would say if asked who she thought was responsible for the slur?
What if she was asked what should happen to the culprit?
Should the culprit get a second chance?
What would be an acceptable way to conclude the investigation

How would she react on being told that the culprit faced not only expulsion from the university but also criminal charges as well?
Would she let an innocent person take the rap for something they didn't do?

I also wonder what her reaction would be if they said they knew who wrote it?

Hey Jude said...

Those are good questions,Tania. If they said they knew who wrote it first, her answers to those questions would be even more interesting.

Jay said...

4 mo ago short of money, not managing it well http://www.tweetbear.com/Faramade_


2 days before banana traumatising discovery, she had "have such a great idea for my 20th birthday"
Faramade Ifaturoti ‏@Faramade_ Apr 3 Have such a great idea for my 20th���� https://twitter.com/Faramade_

and yes, spelling and pronounciation of N word is black only.
I guess this case will disolve in apology by th college and it will never be solved. They wouldn't dare.

Anonymous said...

Back in November she tweeted: "I love Warwick so much (heart emoticon). And on March she said "I am convinced my flatmates are agents of beelzebulb."
There's a lot of tweets about managing money or not having enough money, which is typical of a student, but money (GoFundMe) may have been a constant on her mind and I wouldn't be surprised if ann account has been opened for her to get her own place, etc..

Anonymous said...

For Bottle Cap, (in exchange for a roll of those old-fashioned root beer and Coke flavored candies):

Kyle Marler April 4 at 6:35pm
"I don't really know where Brandon K. Bourbon is, I know everybody believes I do but I feel like since I spent nearly everyday with him the last two weeks that I know where he is. I know what we talked about and I am going to find my friend. I know nobody understands this and I don't get that much of it myself but I do understand WHY he would want to run away for awhile. If anybody wants to listen to me and help me I'll tell you where we need to start looking. Please say some prayers that my friend is found safe and sound. Please share this post to spread awareness."


This is more a starting point and general impression since we need more information on BKB's recent activities and state of mind.

But Kyle reads as torn up inside with mixed emotions. He knows where his friend is, but doesn't; he understands why BKB would want to get away but doesn't; he knows his friend's mindset but doesn't.

Referring to him by his full name in such an otherwise informal post reads like he's in his mind mixing an official police statement - as if anticipating having to do so - and a more personal call out to his circle of friends.

He reaches out for help as if he doesn't know what to do, then offers to tell his potential search party exactly where to look - or perhaps where to not look.

He implores people to "listen to" him.

Just as my starting point, while listening and remaining objective, I'm inferring that something went terribly out of Kyle's control resulting in his friend's death.
He reads as wracked with guilt and pain, badly needing to confess, yet also afraid of the consequences - life as he knew it is about to be over and he's afraid of that along with pain and remorse over whatever happened. (Like DeOrr Kunz, he knows he's in trouble.)

Interesting he uses the word everyone "believes" he knows what happened, not thinks, assumes, etc. Being believed is central to his thoughts even more than needing to persuade.