by Christopher Chow

A protestor at a College Republican membership drive at Georgia State University attempted to confiscate Accuracy in Academia literature that she deemed racist.

The would-be censors objected to the Accuracy in Academia booklets Cop Killer and Enemies Within. The former pamphlet was labeled racist for depicting a black man, convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal, as a cop killer; the latter was deemed racist for picturing an Arab as a terrorist. The only Arab on the booklet cover is Osama bin Laden. Both booklets have been mass-distributed to hundreds of campuses.

The incident began at a College Republican recruitment table in Library Plaza where chapter president Doug Berg was passing out conservative literature from the College Republicans, the National Rifle Association, and AIA. A female student ran up to the table and grabbed as much material as she could carry, then fled. Berg ran after her and was able to retrieve the literature. She returned ten minutes later with five others to protest the College Republicans by holding up signs reading "racists." Berg told Campus Report, "When they came back, the one that tried to steal our stuff was cussing at me, 'why'd you tackle me,' and I basically told her, 'if I'd tackled you you'd know it.' I said, 'would you prefer I'd have you arrested for theft?' She shortly disappeared after that. I never saw her again."

The protestors' main charge against the College Republicans was racism, as indicated by their protest signs reading "racists" with arrows pointing at the College Republicans.

"The young lady started all this by judging a cover of one of our books that pictured a black male on the cover with the words 'Cop Killer.' Apparently she was making an assumption that we were making a racial statement. If she had read the book she would have realized the invalidity of her allegation," explained Berg.

"The people protesting us looked so foolish, because they didn't even bother to read this material. If there was anything racist in here I would not be passing this out. We're an extremely diverse campus. We're a downtown urban campus. Our organization is extremely diverse and I take pride in how diverse our organization has become for a conservative voice. It was funny because at our membership table were people representing the College Republicans. We had a black male, an Asian female, and a Middle Eastern male, and two white males that included myself working the table for membership. And I don't see any racism there whatsoever at all.

"There's nothing in Enemies Within that's racist. They were saying the cover was racist. It was funny because they didn't have time to read either Cop Killer or Enemies Within cause they were back within ten to fifteen minutes…with their signs and everything. So all they did was look at the covers of these and came straight back. I was giving this stuff out to professors and to students and I was like 'come back and tell me if you find anything racist in there. If you find one inkling of something racist I won't give it out anymore.' And not one person could find anything in there… So they just flew off the cuff. They went straight into attack mode."

Saee Razi, an Arab American club member at the table, had a protester shout at him, "You're a privileged white male. That makes you racist." Razi answered, "I am of Middle Eastern descent and look at the diversity of our table. How can a diverse group be racist?" Berg said, "We open our meetings to anyone regardless of political party affiliation to discuss politics and current events. Sure, the protestors had the right to assemble and protest, but at the same time they took a coercive approach towards our right to do the same. I told all my members to remain calm, professional, and think before you speak when answering their allegations."

The protestors included members of the student clubs, Power of Women (POW) and the International Socialist Organization. Professors from the sociology department also joined the debate on the side of the protestors. Soon there was a crowd of at least a hundred people all debating politics in the courtyard for the next three hours.

"It was awesome. Everyone's out there debating politics," Berg exclaimed. "Even the campus security was hanging out in the fringes cause it looked like it could go south quickly....The whole courtyard was just filled with people hollering and yelling about politics of every aspect. It was just great. It started about 12:00, 12:15 and it lasted until 3:00, 3:30. It was awesome, just all those people out there debating. We had everyone from all the departments on campus coming down and wanting your [AIA] material."

Georgia State University's student newspaper, the Signal wanted the political debate to continue and added a place for students to voice their opinions on their website.

The Signal's Managing Editor Tony Montcalm, a self-described, "card-carrying member of the ACLU, and loyal and firm Democrat," explained his desire for all views to be heard. "Furthermore, this means I find that Doug Berg and his College Republicans are wrong. Politically, unilaterally, they're wrong. They're also a great bunch of guys, and their efforts aren't to discriminate, but rather to make their views heard in what is notoriously known as a liberal campus."

"However, the energy of these groups can either be focused in a positive direction, or in a destructive, embarrassing direction. Attacking a group's membership drive is not a positive direction. Addressing the problem of homelessness by sponsoring a forum on the matter is. Calling a brochure 'racist' is not as powerful a statement as trying to expose and explain your reasoning behind that opinion… So you don't agree with the College Republicans? Get in line. But have the class to vent agitation in a manner both civil and positive."

One of the protestors wrote in to state her position that AIA's pamphlets, Enemies Within and Cop Killer: How Mumia Abu-Jamal Conned Millions Into Believing He Was Framed, were racist. "The cover of the pamphlet pictured Abu-Jamal with the big words, Cop Killer. Tell me how associating the previous words with the picture of a Black male is not perpetuating the racist stereotype of Black men as violent, cop-hating killers! One does not need to read the article to understand why the pamphlet is harmful.

"The next pamphlet pictured a traditionally-dressed Arab man, Osama bin Laden, with pictures of anti-war protesters and the words, Enemies Within. Those who receive this literature, whether they read it or not, will see the cover, which brings together the incorrect notions of Arab people as terrorists. In addition, how can people who call for peace be linked with aggressors? As a peace person myself, I advocate peace for all people, not just for the United States."

Student Mark Jones wrote back to explain why Mumia and bin Laden were featured on the pamphlet covers, "perhaps the reason the pamphlet showed the words cop killer was because the man is a convicted cop killer. What? His attorney claims he's innocent? Well there is a shock, a convict claiming he was framed. As for your Arab comment-how's it racist to say we were attacked by Arabs? That is who attacked us. Should the cover have shown a picture of some Dutch people?"