Video shows white freshmen sending monkey impression to Black Lives Matter students

‘They compared black students to monkeys’

| UPDATED

A white student uploaded a Snapchat of himself and a friend dancing like monkeys to a Black Lives Matter event at his school.

An account in the name of UNF freshman Zachary Morse posted the video after a protest organized by students of color on campus – it had the caption "what actually happened at the BML rally."

Morse, who we have contacted for comment, has deleted his Snapchat and Twitter and made his Instagram private. He was seen opposing the Black Lives Matter event among a small group of Trump supporters earlier that day.

UNF kids mock black students on Snapchat

White students at University of North Florida uploaded a Snapchat video of them mocking a Black Lives Matter event and dancing like monkeys

Posted by The Tab US on Thursday, October 12, 2017

Monique Williamson, one of the organizers of yesterday's rally and President of UNF's Students for Democratic Society told The Tab:

"We had a Black Lives Matter rally on our campus to stand in solidarity with victims of police brutality and NFL players who have decided to take a stand against these injustices. During the rally we had a few people oppose us – they called me personally a 'nigger bitch' and all other types of slurs.

"After the rally a Snapchat video surfaces of a gentleman, Zachary Morse, who was at the event saying 'What really happened at the Black Lives Matter rally' and jumping around like animals. He compared people exercising their constitutional right to free speech to monkeys. Historically comparing black people to monkeys is pretty racist.

"He's one of the guys in the video and the owner of the Snapchat handle. It was a video that someone else recorded that he uploaded to his own personal Snapchat and posted it to our Black Lives Matter event.

"While this experience has been very sad, I'm grateful for it. It shows that UNF needs a more diverse program, more diverse studies and basically have a more diverse place. These attitudes are not acceptable and racism should not be tolerated. As students, we're demanding that they kindly disavow this event as well as look at our demands for creating an African American Studies program, create more diversity among the faculty, and recruit more black students and create scholarships for black students."

UNF student Madisen Smith, who made the Snapchat story tagged for Black Lives Matter, told The Tab:

"I was enraged. I originally made the group story so people in the rally could post snaps from their perspective. When I saw that those guys decided to post what they posted I was just like..wow."

UNF President John Delaney released a statement this morning to say:

"The University is investigating a social media video that appears to show several people mocking, in a racist way, participants in a Black Lives Matter rally that took place on campus Wednesday afternoon. We received notice of the video last night. I understand that videos such as this are very hurtful to many people. We will conduct a full and fair investigation."

We've yet to hear back from Zach, but his sister Leah has spoken out to call him a dumbass.

She posted an excuse on his behalf on Twitter, citing a First Amendment defense (her account has now been marked private).

Zack Morse has issued a statement about his video. Speaking to Spinnaker, a news site at UNF, he said: