Dove, the beauty giant, has joined forces with Black Lives Matter activist Zyanha Bryant to promote "fat liberation" following an incident where Bryant was accused of wrongfully getting a white student expelled from the University of Virginia over a "misheard" remark.
Bryant, who is a community organizer and student activist, announced her partnership with Dove on her Instagram page in August, expressing her goal of ending the stigma surrounding being overweight. She emphasized the importance of centering the voices and experiences of marginalized individuals and communities, particularly those navigating spaces and institutions in a fat body. Bryant encouraged others to share their stories of fat liberation using the hashtag #SizeFreedom and tagging Dove.
However, Bryant has faced criticism for her involvement in the incident that led to the suspension of white student Morgan Bettinger. Bryant claimed that Bettinger referred to BLM protesters as "good speed bumps" in the summer of 2020, but later admitted that she may have misheard her. The incident occurred when Bettinger mistakenly drove down a street where BLM protesters had gathered. She initially continued driving because the road was not completely blocked off, but when she realized it was being blocked off, she parked her car to see what was happening.
Bettinger had a brief conversation with a truck driver who was blocking the road, during which she made a comment praising his efforts to block traffic. Bryant overheard part of the conversation and tweeted that Bettinger said the protesters "would make 'good speedbumps'." The tweet went viral, and Bryant began demanding that school administrators expel Bettinger, accusing her of threatening students' health and safety.
Bryant filed a complaint with the University Judiciary Committee, alleging that Bettinger had made a legitimate threat against the protesters. The committee found Bettinger guilty, despite being unable to prove Bryant's claims about her intentions. The jurors ruled that even harmless words spoken during a protest warranted punishment. Bryant also filed a complaint with the school's Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, claiming that Bettinger had repeated the statement five times and had discriminated against her based on her race.
However, the EOCR office found that three of the five accusations could not be corroborated, and a report concluded that Bryant most likely did not hear Bettinger's comments firsthand, as no eyewitnesses were able to support her version of events. Bettinger graduated from UVA with a permanent mark on her record, which may hinder her chances of getting into law school.
Bettinger is now considering bringing a lawsuit against school officials to clear her record. Her lawyers argue that her conviction and punishment were carried out without a constitutionally sufficient process, as the school failed to retry her or provide a "de novo review of the clearly erroneous judgment of the UJC." Meanwhile, Bryant has continued to gain recognition, being profiled in the Washington Post and being named to Ebony's "Power 100" list.
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