[IMC-US] Va. Military Institute story, but Richmond site down

[muna rva imc]

I really wasn't sure how to summarize this in an email title, and perhaps I
should've brought this story to US's attention earlier, but... Why don't I just
start from the beginning...

So about a week about a Richmond Indymedia user posted photos of cadets at the
Virginia Military Institute wearing extremely offensive Halloween costumes --
some dressed up as Nazis and donned blackface back on Oct. 2004.

Well, the story's hit big. There's almost 200 comments on it (about 180 more
than normal), plus it got picked up by regional, and now national papers and tv
stations.

But the high traffic has killed our site. Odds are none of you will be able to
access richmond.indymedia.org to actually see our story. That's what I've been
trying to deal with the past few days, unsuccessfully.

RVA IMC is still not syndicated, so US IMC of course did not pick it up. I wish
it did, or could, so all these anxious public folks could at least see some
semblence of this story on Indymedia somewhere.

Given the tech problems, I really have no idea how to get this story to you. The
story really is in the comments thread. 

But I figure it's worth mentioning.

Anyway, here are some shitty corporate links to follow our scoop. Oh how low I'm
forced to sink. The first one from the regional Roanoke Times is almost all from
our site, and I've included it at the end of this email in its entirity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45703-2005Jan28.html?sub=new

http://times-dispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780524156&path=%21news&s=1045855934842

And, of course, just in case ya wanna try:

http://richmond.indymedia.org/feature/display/9193/index.php

X,
Muna

----- Forwarded message from muna rva imc <muna at richmondindymedia.org> -----
    Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:34:01 -0500
    From: muna rva imc <muna at richmondindymedia.org>
Reply-To: muna rva imc <muna at richmondindymedia.org>
 Subject: VMI/IMC coverage in Roanoke Times by Roanoke NBC afflilate
      To: editors at richmondindymedia.org

I'm still sifting through the 138 comments, but in the meantime, I just got off
the phone with the Roanoke NBC reporter -- they're running the pictures and
story at 6pm tonight (her email's at the very end of this). And she told me
that the Roanoke Times ran a story today, which I just found online.:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/17647.html

Friday, January 28, 2005

VMI launches investigation of costume party

Although the party was in October, message boarders and school officials
weighed
in Thursday on the cadets' choice of attire. What do you think?

By Matt Chittum
 981-3331
The Roanoke Times 
  
Virginia Military Institute officials are investigating a 2004 barracks
Halloween observance during which cadets dressed as Nazi soldiers, drag queens
and a starving African. 

Officials at the Lexington college were alerted to the behavior when someone
referred them to an Internet message board on which four photographs of the
costumed men are posted. 

"We've been made aware of the possible involvement of a small number of VMI
cadets in various insensitive and inappropriate photographic poses appearing on
a Web site unaffiliated with VMI," spokesman Stewart MacInnis said. "VMI does
not condone such behavior and this matter is being investigated accordingly.
While recognizing cadets have rights as private citizens to express themselves,
we are disappointed in their behavior and judgment." 

MacInnis said officials are satisfied that the pictures posted at
richmond.indymedia.org are from an October event in barracks during which
cadets were permitted to dress in costume for the evening. The Web site is
operated by the Richmond Independent Media Center and offers a forum for
"promoting social and economic justice in the Richmond area," according to its
mission statement. 

One picture shows three men in their VMI-issued black shirts and gray pants
giving the Nazi salute to the camera. Two are wearing homemade swastika
armbands. One is wearing a small Hitler-style mustache. 

Another picture shows two men dressed in tiaras, wings, lipstick and eye
shadow.
One is holding a wand, and both are wearing underpants and tank tops that read,
"I [heart] a man in uniform." 

There are also pictures of a man smeared head-to-toe in dark makeup and wearing
a loin clot  h, and a man with a bull's-eye drawn with tape on the rear of his
pants. 

Posted Thursday, the photos immediately generated a running online debate about
their offensiveness. Some posters noted that they appeared weeks after
England's Prince Harry was criticized by Jewish organizations for wearing a
Nazi uniform to a recent costume party and that Thursday was the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. 

Using the screen name "CBC," the person who posted the images said others
should
"condemn VMI's ability to laugh at the deaths of millions, make light of famine
and race and mock homosexuality. These are, after all, the men who are supposed
to one day graduate to their own posts at Gitmos [Guantanamo Bays] and Abu
Ghraibs around the world." 

A writer identified as "Sean," who said he is a VMI cadet, defended the
costumes. 

"We, the Corps of Cadets, were apalled [sic] at the Abu Ghraib incident, but
seeing as how we're going to be in the midst of death and inhumanity and other
such facts of life we need to be able to keep a sense of humor," he wrote. 

"What's funny about the Nazis?" replied poster "James Spady." 

A poster named "Joseph" advised others to "lighten up, anyone construing this
as
anything other than absurd and jovial is nothing short of anal retentive." 

Even if they acted without malice, the cadets involved could still face
disciplinary action. 

MacInnis was unsure of what specific regulations VMI has regarding racial or
ethnic sensitivity, but he noted that such behavior might also fit in the
category of "conduct unbecoming a cadet." 

New cadets receive instruction in sensitivity to matters of gender, race and
the
like, MacInnis said. 

"VMI will continue to make strong efforts to educate the Corps in civility and
respect for others," he said.


----- Forwarded message from mmartin at wsls.com -----
    Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 10:35:30 -0500
    From: mmartin at wsls.com
Reply-To: mmartin at wsls.com
 Subject: pictures
      To: info at richmondindymedia.org

> I am a reporter with the NBC affiliate in Roanoke, VA. We are interested in
doing a story on the pictures of VMI cadets posted on your website. We would of
course courtesy your site. Could you please get in touch with me regarding this
as soon as possible? My cell phone is listed below.
> Thank you,
> 
> Melissa Martin 
> 
> Melissa Martin
> Reporter
> WSLS-TV
> 540-981-9126/ 1(800) 800-5797
> cell 540-529-2150
> mmartin at wsls.com
> 

----- End forwarded message -----




----- End forwarded message -----