April 25, 2024 • 48 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Breaking News Coverage of the Pro-Palestinian Demonstration at USC, from its connection to the Asna Tabassum “Valedictorian Controversy” and its influence on protests at other Universities; to the arrest of dozens of pro-Palestine protesters…PLUS - KFI Reporter Michael Monks gives a bird’s eye view of the scene live at USC - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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(00:22):
KFIM six forty is later with MoKelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app and if you've been listening toKFI from the Tim Conway Junior Show,
we are continuing our coverage of whatis happening right now at USC. Protests
have been ongoing throughout the day andthe protest today was scheduled to go until
(00:43):
nine pm this evening, but LAPDhas intervened in the last hour to clear
out the area and has begun arrestingstudents and people who I believe are not
students who are also participating in theprotests. And NBC is showing that these
fifty people have been arrested in thesewhich are largely pro Palestinian protests at USC.
(01:07):
But let me get into that rightthere. There are some competing interests.
When we talked about USC last weekthe protests, initially we're surrounding the
valedictorian who was not going to beallowed to speak and give her speech at
graduation. Initially that was the concern, but today's protest is not that.
(01:30):
And this is where I think themessage and the messengers are very important if
you wish to have a successful protest. The protest today from what I've seen
at USC, which is different thanwhat had happened at Columbia and Yale,
University of Texas and other universities aroundthe country. Specifically what happened at USC
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today, there's a different group whichis now asking for divestment from all things
connected to Israel, including classes,business connections, funding, things of that
nature. This is something which iscompletely different and unrelated. An idea from
(02:15):
Asn Tobala Tobasa, who is avaledictorian who has been denied the privilege of
speaking at graduation. This is somethingI talked about yesterday where you have to
be very careful about who is speakingon behalf of your movement because the messages
have gotten very muddied in nature.And although these protests around the country are
(02:38):
happening simultaneously, they are not thesame. If you're actually paying attention.
There is a general underlying theme relativeto it being pro Palestinian in nature,
but the ask and the specifics arenot the same at all. And here's
(02:59):
just some audio of what's going onaround the nation today over the different course
of the different protests around the country. Here is a Columbia University student,
I feel as though people are kindof weaponizing antisemitism and other students. We
(03:19):
are risking like our academic standing,just to like to show the administrators that
we are not okay with their decisions. It's a mess, it's very chaotic.
We're not okay with our tuition,our money going towards genocide. We
want the university to divest from deathagain. This is Columbia University today.
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Decision to say right police to pickup peaceful protesters on our canvas was unjustified
goods proportion to the This is nowEmerson College in Boston. A student.
(04:05):
We want Emerson College number one callfor an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Number
two, to disclose all financial investmentsin Zionist organizations. Number three to divest
from those organizations. Number four todrop all charges against students for disciplinary actions.
Okay, So depends on the campus, who is in charge, who
(04:27):
is the loudest voice, what messagethey're trying to send out, and what
they're actually asking for. Let's goto the University of Texas Austin. I
would watch what was going on incollege campuses, and I would see people
shouting not for peace, they wereshouting for the destruction of Israel. They
were shouting for an into fada.They were shouting for the death of the
Zionism, and I just I sendfor peace. I want peace. I
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don't think this protest is yash forpeace. That gives you a sample of
what was happening around the country,and it's growing in nature. We also
have the University of Michigan as well. The movement's never been bigger than it
is right now, not only atthe University of Michigan, but across the
country as we're seeing. See that'sthe thing. The movement is not uniform
(05:15):
in nature around the country. Aswe talk about what is happening at USC
specifically, it's not just USC,but it's not necessarily the same as USC.
Here's one of the USC protesters today. Okay, so did you witness
what happened? Okay, what didyou say? They took him over a
sleeping bag. He was sitting down. They grabbed a sleeping bag and they
(05:38):
pulled them off, and they starteddragging him and they threw at least twenty
people on the floor, slamming themon the floor. Men were slamming women
on the floor that were not eventouching them. A woman. One of
the police officers bent my finger backall the way and I said, over
this, over this, I wasjust sitting down miney, my own business.
Our freedoms are taken away. Wedon't have freedom here. Tell me
about what brought you out here inthe first place. Today, I'm here
(06:00):
with Colombia. What they're doing,their encampment in Colombia. We're here to
make sure that we keep using ourvoice, whether people in Gaza that are
getting destroyed, that are NonStop forseven months. This country has supported genocide.
This country has supported the bombs,has supported the slaughter of children,
the starvation of children. That's whyI'm here. It's a war. There
are other opinions different from those.Genocide is a major charge. I'm curious
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this group has said it's anti Semitic. Some a Jewish student I spoke to
you said that they feel uncomfortable whenthey hear chants like from the River to
the Sea, which the Anti DefamationLeague, the US House of Representatives have
called anti Semitics. So what doyou say to those concerns? The Arabs
are Semites, We're not anti Semitic. Half of our group is Jews for
Peace, We're a very peaceful group. We want our freedom. We don't
want to hurt anybody. We justwant our freedom. We want our rights.
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We want the occupation to end.We want people to be able to
travel freely. We want gods thatto have an airport. We want gods
that to have infrastructure. We wantchildren that are looking for aid and food.
That's what we're looking for. Wewant them to have a life.
They haven't been in school for oneyear. Since October. They have not
been in school. This isn't right. They're doing collective punishment. And here's
a USC professor from earlier today.I've been here twenty seven years as a
(07:13):
company number. This is one ofthe largest political protests I've ever seen.
I'm very proud of the students arestanding up for what they believe in.
The students are exercising their free speechrights. They're exercising the things that they've
been trained to do at this campus, which is to believe in their ideals,
believe in their convictions. I thinkit's sending them one message to clear
the students out. Those are someof the voices heard all around the nation
today, and people may take whateverthey want from those thoughts. This movement,
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i'll call it a movement, isnot uniform. It is not sending
the same message, a unified message. And what we see happening at USC
is connected and related to what's happeningall around the country different campuses. But
if you drill down and pay closeattention to what students are saying, what
(08:00):
I would say outsiders are saying,you're getting different messages. And let's be
clear that this is not a unifiedmessage. This is not the same thing
everywhere. And as we continue todiscuss this tonight, we'll try to jp
down and get a better understanding ofwhat is being asked for by students on
US's campus and more, and alsohow it will affect you and your day
(08:24):
to day lives right here in southernCalifornia. You're listening to Later with Moe
Kelly on demand from KFI AM sixforty, and we're continuing to follow what
is happening down at USC, specifically. LAPD has been on scene for more
than an hour and a half.I want to stay closer to five point
thirty actually, and they've given theorder to disperse. They've commenced with arresting
(08:48):
people who refuse to move. Thereare people who are locking arms in a
circle in solidarity, surrounding other peoplewho are sitting on the ground. From
what I can see, i'm watchingNBC Force coverage, most people have been
arrested without incident. Tiffany Hobbs joinsme in studios. She's someone who's an
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alum of USC has an understanding ofnot only the campus but also some of
the competing interests which may be aplay right now. Yes, fight on
for one. I'm a proud USCalum, and it does concern me,
however, that those on the outsideare seeing this protest as one myopic demonstration,
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when in fact there are multiple thingsat play, and based off of
my personal involvement in activism when Iwas a college student at USC and post
graduation for the last fifteen years,I consider myself someone who is well versed
in activism. I came face toface on numerous occasions with groups that were
(10:00):
splinter organizations, organizations that were paidto go in and disrupt organized protests and
paid protesters, paid disruptors, paiddisruptors, paid agitators, and they appeared
at every every semblance of a protest. They just materialized out of nowhere,
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And I don't believe that this isanything different. This this protest started not
because of what happened with the ValedictorianUSC. This protest, like the others
at Columbia Yale that now twelve ormore other universities around the country, is
directly related to the organization's views aboutfunding what they consider to be what they
(10:50):
consider to be a genocide in Gazathat came out of nowhere. That came
out of nowhere. But did itbecause if you follow as I do,
Palestinian journalists on the ground and othersorts of media outside of the United States,
there are attempts to galvanize the publicand they are appealing to the United
States to lead protests. And here'smy thing, I understand it. I
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support a lot of what people areare are expressing as far as wanting obviously
the killing to end and wanting foodto be discissed in Gaza. I am
definitely, you know, a propeace person. I do not like what's
happening. I know we're not talkingabout that per se, but what's being
asked of people outside of Gaza andoutside of the Middle East is that there
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is this galvanization that there is thisgrouping that there is this support to protest
and go against what people can whatpeople feel is the US's involvement in this
war. And again these are viewsexpressed in Gaza by Palestinian journalists on the
(12:00):
ground doing the reporting, and it'slargely over social media. Being that I
am the viral load, right orthe load Lady Park likes to call me.
I saw this coming. I've beenwatching it for ten months or or
eight months now nine months, aslong as this aggression in the situation has
been going on in Gaza, andI follow social media, so I've been
(12:20):
seeing the calls to rally and askingpeople in the United States to do things
on certain days. This is somethingthat has been in the works for a
long time, which is why thereare so many universities doing this simultaneously.
But at USC this protest is notrelated to the Gaza. To the Validisjory
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and that is what bothers me most. Given that, again I have experience
with activism, I am sure thatthere were students there. I'm one hundred
percent sure that there were students therewho were protesting her removal as the speaker
at the time, you know,for the commencement ceremony. But what happens
as they get co opted And I'msure that the smaller organizations on campus did
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not necessarily plan for this protest tonow get out of hand as it has.
And I've been scouring social media andI've seen lots of examples that aren't
necessarily shown on network TV, thatare more aggressive, that are teetering on
the line of violence and possibly breakingout into something more than what's been reported.
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Let me jump in there. WhenI've been watching this coverage, and
I was actually doing television commentary spectrumearlier in the day, so I've been
watching it from a variety of anglesagain and again and again. I got
the feeling as if many of thepeople I was viewing as part of these
protests, especially now, we're notstudents, correct, And that often happens
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with protests for any cause. Aroundthis city, around big cities in America,
there are organizations, may I sayone one, and it's called rev
com. You may have seen themaround the city with their banners or their
signs, And again, they arean organization that is pro communism. It
is right there in the name.They are revolutionary communist organization. But they
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come in and they infiltrate, theyagitate, they disrupt, and their their
modus operandi is to get the attentionon them as as best as they can,
as quick as they can, andthey will throw the bottles, they
will push police, they will insultpolice, they will make statements that are
completely antagonistic the media in it,and they want the media's attention by any
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means necessary. So the original intentof organizations, which are often pure in
nature they're wanting some sort of equityor resolution to whatever their issue is,
gets again co opted by these otherorganizations. The main one, one of
the main one UNS is RevCom,which has rebranded numerous times because as people
have latched on to what they doand under you know, kind of become
(15:01):
aware of their shtick, they've changedtheir name and come back so that they
can be a bit more ambiguous.But it is that, it is absolutely
that. Let me ask you that, Tiffany Hobbs alum of USC For those
who are just tuning in, I'mquite sure you came and expecting to talk
about something different tonight, but thenews happens, and so we have to
deal with the news right from this, Okay, do it well, when
(15:24):
we look at what's happening, itseems, when I say relatively because we're
only seeing one camera view, relativelypeaceful in the sense of people are being
arrested without incident. But I alsosee a lot of people kind of milling
around, and I wonder whether thatpeaceful nature of this particular protest will continue
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as night falls. I always getconcerned the darker it gets, absolutely,
and that's what I've experienced. Therehave been plenty of very peaceful protests or
marches that I've been a part of, and as soon as night falls,
here come the bottles being thrown atpolice. Here come again the agitating statements
or the threatening statements. And itis completely deliberate as to grow up the
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police, as to cause some sortof commotions so that they have these agitators
have a reason to become in theirminds violent toward police or anyone else who
might be trying to calm down thesituation, other protesters included. So I
am very concerned about what's going tohappen. Like you said, seeing people
milling around just gives you that anxiety. So it doesn't look good, it
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doesn't feel good, And I believethat's why the cameras are trained on these
people now. They know they knowthat there's a possibility that things could happen,
and that's why they'll be there throughthe evening. Well, we'll be
here through the evening and give youthe latest as it happens. It's later
with mo Kelly more of our coverageof what's happening right now at USC and
also campuses all around the nation.Can if I am six forty Life Everywhere
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on the iHeartRadio app Listening later withMoe Kelly on demand from KFIAM six forty
we continue our coverage of what's happeningright now at USC the protests there.
LAPD has moved in and they've beenmoving in over the past hour and a
half and some clarity on what isactually happening on the campus. Although some
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television news media is reporting that morethan fifty people have been arrested, that
is not actually correct. From LAPDMedia Relations Division, they have said that
LAPD officers are just detaining. USC'sDepartment of Safety Public Safety DPS will be
handling arrests for trespassing. I takethat to mean the discretion will be given
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to USC's officers and they will getto decide as opposed to LAPD enacting formal
arrests. So, just to putthat out there, although we may see
people taking away in zip tie slashhandcuffs, we cannot assume that they are
actually being arrested, but could possiblyonly be detained and it'll be left up
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to DPS, which says to meprobably students will be handled differently from non
students, and we will see howthat shakes out as far as the number
of actual students involved in the protestand the people who are not students who
are also participating in the protests.And there's also a need for historical perspective
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here, as much as we maywant to wag our finger at the young
people for protesting, whether we agreeor disagree with the protests, and there's
a lot of nuances as to whatwe can agree with what we can't can
vehemently disagree with. But here's somethingwhich is inarguable. Social movements or these
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types of moments are cyclical in nature, they are generational in nature. They
happened about maybe every ten to fifteenyears. But the unifying facet of all
of them, they're led by youngpeople. And we generally celebrate them throughout
history. The long view of historyis the young people usually get it right.
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Usually. Here's what I mean.Susan B. Anthony. We know
about her work as an abolitionist andalso suffrage. She participated in her first
protest at sixteen years old. DoctorMartin Luther King Junior. He was head
of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Attwenty four years old. He went to
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college at fifteen and twenty four hewas at the head of the Montgomery Improvement
Association, which was the organization behindthe Montgomery bus boycott, Rosa Parks and
the rest, they say is history. There are all sorts of examples.
The Lake Congressman John Lewis twenty threeyears old when he spoke at the March
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on Washington, the youngest speaker thatday. History is full of examples of
young people leading the way in momentsjust like these. And if you look
back through history, every single oneof those movements was wildly unpopular at the
time, wildly unpopular. Just wantedto put that out there as we talk
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about how this moment and where itfits in the larger aspect of history,
and we talk about usc because it'slocal, either we went there, like
Tiffany Hobbs, either we've driven bythere, either we're a fan of one
of the teams. It's personal onsome level for us. We can relate
to it on some level. Butpart of talking about USC is understanding that
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USC may be a part of thelarger discussion of protests going on around the
country. But as Tiffany Hobbs madevery clear, it's not what is happening
on other campuses. Because USC,in large parts started having to do with
the valedictorian and how she was deprivedof the opportunity to speak at graduation.
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This protest today had absolutely nothing todo with her, absolutely nothing. Now,
there may be students who participated inthe protests who did not forget about
her, did not lose sight ofher, but the loudest voices, the
people that you saw and heard onTV, the people who were posting the
supposed demands of the protests, didnot include her at all. Is a
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list of demands I guess we're postedon social media. I've seen them reference
in some news articles asking for acomplete divestment from Israel. The university should
making sure that there are no sortsof funds which are being used for tell
me, Tiffany, I can't rememberall of them, but they were very
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vague in nature. Sure it wasrelated to, like you said, funding
the funding of weaponry to Israel andother factions that are a part of this
aggression on or at or in Gazain Palestine. So they largely were financial
in nature, Okay, had nothingto do with often as possible, not
(22:26):
these original ones. No, andif I may mo, I've been looking.
In the last segment, I spokeabout these fringe groups. One specifically
that it's called RevCom La. Theirnew name is RevCom core La, and
they actually posted on their social mediathis fringe group essentially a declaration of intent
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to disrupt anything that USC might dotoday because of what they feel is a
lack of support of us sees.Palestinian organizations are pro Palestinian organization explicit they're
involved. They're involved, And Isaid this, I speculated because I had
it on good authority based off ofexperience, that they were likely involved in
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Here they are proudly saying that theyare, but they're also again arguing on
social media with USC centered groups,USC, pro Palestinian groups and groups that
have said that they were speaking upfor asna A Bossam by saying that unless
you are speaking up for asna ABossom and communism, and there they're candidates
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for president co opting and then herewe go. So now it's fireworks because
they're taking it personally. They're sayingyou're not supporting us, and to not
support us as a direct attack attackon those who are pro this or pro
that. So it's all conflated andthese are the groups that are there,
likely on the front lines getting arrested. When we come back, we'll check
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in with kfi's own Michael Monks,who's still on sne down at USC.
It's Later with mo Kelly CAFIM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Later with mo Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with mo Kelly Live everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. As we continue
our coverage of the events and unfoldingat USC, the protests which have gone
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on all day today. Originally theywere scheduled to go until nine pm.
LAPD came in by my estimation somewherearound five point thirty, started clearing people
out, gave the order to disperseand then began what we thought originally was
arresting people. We then were informedLAPD was just detaining them and handing them
(24:47):
over to DPS Department of Public Safetyfor USC, and USC would then make
the decision of whether they would eventuallyarrest them or or release them. Kfi's
own Michael Monks is on the scenescene right now, USC, and he
joins me, good evening, Michael, hey me, thanks for having me
on. The scene is considerably smallerthan it was earlier in the day,
(25:08):
that's for sure. When do yousay considerably smaller about how many people have
yet to leave the scene? Well, you know, it's been hard to
tell since I got here a coupleof hours ago, who exactly is a
protester and who exactly is a spectatorbecause you have this spectacle taking place,
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and a lot of the students Ican see standing a bit away from the
center of the protest are mostly observingand taking photos and talking amongst themselves.
What you hear possibly in the backgroundon all the phonus picking up you hear
a lot of drumming, still somenoise making, but all of the students
and the protesters who were seated onthe ground refusing to move from Alumni Park
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earlier today, they've all been takenaway, and as you noted, it
will be the decision of the campuspolice here on what their legal state is.
Right now, the chanting is stillgoing on, but the police are
standing in the middle of Alumni partand we're not sure what's happening next.
But I'm seeing a bit of movement. They're sort of condensing amongst themselves in
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front of the last remaining chunk ofprotesters who are here. There's certainly a
loud group, but they're considerably smaller. Mo it's about I'm eyeballing. I'd
see one hundred people left protesting,and probably a little bit more than that
who are watching. How would youdescribe LAPD's posture. Are they geared up,
(26:37):
are they concerned about the correat aroundthem? Or is it more relaxed
in nature. I think a littlebit ago there was an air of uncertainty.
It was very strange on the campushere at USC because it was very
normal on the outskirts of the campus, people in backpacks, you know,
going into coffee shops and that sortof thing. But when you got closer
(26:59):
to the center, of events.You have the helicopters flying overhead, you
have guys like me, the mediarunning around, and then these police officers
with helmets and face mask and baton'sdrawn, and you know the little ties
that they used to arrest some ofthese folks. There was tension in the
air, but nothing that I observedat the height of this compared to what
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we've seen on other campuses across thecountry, whether it be the Ivy League
or at UT Austen earlier today.In fact, just about a half hour
ago, mo I overheard a coupleof the laped officers talking. One said
to the other, what are westill doing here? I guess that's good
news on some level, because ifthey're questioning what they're still doing there,
then I guess there's not a threat, if you will, which is imminent.
(27:41):
Is that fair to say? Ithink that's exactly right. I think
that's what a lot of us whoare in the media remaining here unseen,
are wondering. Are they going tocall for further dispersement? Right like,
get off the campus. We're shuttingthis thing down for good tonight. It's
time to go home. You've statedyour case. Time to go home.
And then will anything escalate from there. I don't get the sense that police
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are anticipating that. They're still verystrict about where you can maneuver on campus.
I almost walked into the wrong spotand I got corrected just moments ago,
so they're still paying very close attentionto where you could be on the
campus. However, you do getthe sense that this is probably about to
be finished. It's certainly winding downdespite some of the noise from the remaining
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protest. Do you know, inmaybe conversation with students, do you know
if there's been any type of formalresponse or message sent out by the university.
The university sent a message out earliertoday that seemed rather typical of university
pronouncements, where they have to walkthat fine line of let's keep things in
(28:49):
order, but let's also recognize,you know, the people's rights and that
sort of things that came out earlierin the afternoon from one of the provosts
here at USC. I have notseen anything about what's happening directly now at
this hour. Again, I thinkthey're probably grateful that it was as minors
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it was. There were certainly Idon't know that we can say arrest,
but apprehensions of people taken into custodyat least. But even that moment was
people. I mean, these werefolks who were sitting on the ground with
their arms locked, and they surrenderedindividually within minutes of each other. It
seemed to be some coordinated surrender downto the last guy. They'd stand up
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and they'd be they have their theirhands tied and they'd be escorted away.
Again, we don't know whether they'rearrested, excited for trespassing or what,
but you know, it's been it'sbeen a different scene than what we thought
the IVY leagues than U see Austintoday. If you've read any attention to
those videos that were circulated. Yeah, the reason I asked that because I
wonder whether the university has made anytype of vindication that classes would not be
(29:56):
held tomorrow, or whether they wouldbe held online, Whether protesters had any
designs or plans to return to thecampus tomorrow. I can't speak to that,
but this was meant to be alonger affair here. They had tents
here earlier. A lot of pizzerswere consumed. Strangely, I saw a
(30:18):
lot of milk out in the middleof this field. I don't know how
long people were planning on staying here, but it looked like they wanted to
occupy this park for a while.Whether they try again tomorrow is yet to
be seen. We'll see if theyhave the energy for it, and I'll
keep an eye out for those messagesfor sure. Okay, to be clear,
the encampments have been completely removed thenat this point it's completely gone.
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Right now here at Alumni Park inthe middle of campus, you have probably
more or an equal number of policeofficers to protesters. That ratio is just
about one to one, and againto add another one to that ratio,
are just there are folks who arewatching. I think it seems that a
lot of the response to this mayhave been creditated upon what was witnessed elsewhere
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across the country during related protests,and so in order to be prepared for
a really bad situation like we haveseen in other campuses, this is the
response here. It did not riseto that level here today by my estimation,
by what I witnessed, people weretaken into custody. They did surrender
(31:30):
themselves. They are loud, butthis is not unusual in terms of protests
on a college campus, like whatwe have seen at some of the other
places before I let you go.I know there were some isolated incidents I
could see on TV. There wassome pushing between protesters in LAPD. You
are on site, did you witnessanything which was beyond that or more extreme
(31:52):
than that? Now? I thinkthose skirmishes that we saw that on social
media were really hard to determine theaccuracy of the circumstances surrounding some of that.
So will I have witnessed over thepast couple of hours. It's been
just to stand off, really andnot that's probably even too harsh of a
word, because while yes, there'stension here because it's a protest, mostly
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the police have been quietly enforcing thethe zones that people are allowed to go
in, and then surrounding the protesterswho were seated. The protesters who were
seated were also very quiet. Youonly heard noise from a little chunk and
they're still here. Of these protesterswho were banging on drums and bells and
chanting a little bit, otherwise veryuneventful. Even the arrests were very quiet.
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There'd be a little bit of applausefor each individual who was taken away,
but otherwise silence. Michael Monks,I know, last question. I
know you're getting ready to get outof there. On your way in.
Did you see people coming from theoutside community coming to the campus at that
time? It was it's range.By the time that I got here,
(33:00):
we leaving one of our colleagues fromthe newsroom, they had locked all of
the gates around the campus, soany idea you had on how you were
going to come into USC was probablydisrupted. So I got sent around a
lot of different places before I couldfinally even get here, and yet there
were some people, but what Isaw mostly were people leaving. Like I
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told you at the top, itwas interesting coming in because on the outside
of campus, on the outskirts,around the sidewalks and the businesses, folks
were going about their day. WhenI arrived, I expected to see,
I think, a different scene inmy mind based on what I had been
following all day, and through thecontrary, it was just a normal day
(33:43):
here around campus, except when yougot to the middle of it. Michael
Monks, thank you for the greatinformation. Be safe out there, hey,
my pleasure Moe. Talk to yousoon with Kenny Live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app and if you're just tuningin, we've been covering what has been
(34:06):
happening on the campus of USC.And to be clear, although some media
sources and news outlets are reporting thatthere have been dozens and dozens of arrests,
I just want to tell you whatLAPD has told us where students other
people involved have not been arrested asof this moment, They've been detained and
(34:30):
then USC's Department of Public Safety DPSwill be handling arrests for trespassing. DPS
will have the discretion as to whetherthey're going to arrest or just release anyone
involved in today's protests. And ifyou have been following our coverage, we
spoke to Michael Monks last segment andhe reiterated what we saw that the moments
(34:54):
in which LAPD stepped in and quoteunquote arrested or detain someone you know,
put the zip ties on the hands, that was largely without incident, and
they were taken to another area tobe processed. There were no for the
most part, no loud moments.It wasn't any type of push pull That's
(35:20):
the only way I can describe it. It was relatively without incident, and
I think that's great for everyone involved. Something Michael Monks said I want to
pick up on is where that thisday at UC was unlike what we saw
at Columbia, what we saw atYale, what we saw at the University
of Texas Austin. We saw somethingvery different there. We know that the
(35:44):
issues which were being broached were slightlydifferent. The ask by students was different
here at USC. It was muchmore tame, if you will, not
as contentious, and the ass hadto do more with divestment and things unrelated
(36:05):
to what originally was the supposed issueat USC, having to do with the
valedictorian and the invitation rescinded to speakat graduation. When I woke up this
morning and I saw that protests wereforming at USC, I instinctively thought,
and I was wrong, that ithad to do with Astin Tobossom and whether
(36:30):
she would be reinstated to be thevaledictorian and speaker for graduation. I thought
maybe that the protests had to dowith how graduation commencement was going to be
conducted on some level. You knowthat we've reported that all commencement speakers were
removed. I thought the protests mighthave been centered around that they had zero
(36:54):
to do with any of that.It had nothing to do with the commencement,
had nothing to do with the commencementspeakers, had nothing to do with
what originally people were upset about onUSC's campus, and that brought to mind
that there may have been other factors, other actors at play. And tonight
I had Tiffany Hobbs, who usuallyjoins us on a Wednesday evening, but
(37:15):
she joined us a little earlier becauseshe has experience and insight as an activist
as a USC alum, to giveus some perspective on what may have been
happening and what definitely was happening onthe ground at USC. I'm looking mo
at social media, and two daysago there were protests on USC's campus for
(37:38):
Asna to Bossom, specifically specifically speakingto students upset at her not being able
to speak during the commencement as thevaledictorian, and that protest wasn't covered nearly
as largely as this one is,obviously, and so like you're saying,
(37:58):
today's protests is more in line withwhat's happening around the country, and there's
an alignment amongst these larger organizations oruniversities, rather to organization within the universities,
for sure, to amplify their message, which is, of course,
as they're saying, to be criticalof what they considers the US's involvement or
(38:22):
complicitness in what's happening in Gaza andin Israel, or Israel versus Gaza.
So what you're saying is true ifyou're looking at social media and you're following
the story, there are different argumentsat play, they're different intents at play.
(38:43):
What you would think would be thereason for these protests, obviously,
to again speak to Asna, toBossam not being able to do her commencement
speeches valedictorian is not necessarily what's happening, and that is a problem, and
that muddles and conflates all of thesearguments. And you don't know what the
true organizers are, who those organizersare, what's really happening. Everything is
(39:07):
very muddled, and when things arenot clear, that's when you have this
likelihood or propensity for things to getout of control. And as nightfalls,
as you said a few segments ago, that's when things can become more volatile.
My greate is concern Before we goto brig I should say one of
my many great concerns is if youwere a person who either protested today or
(39:35):
you are in alignment solidarity with theprotesters earlier today, I have to ask,
how is this sustainable? How doyou expect any of your ass your
grievances to be met. If you'rea student, all you can do is
lose the right to or privileged toattend school and get your education. At
(39:58):
USC we're at the end of theterm. You know, they can kick
you out of the dorms at toa certain point, they can kick you
off campus, and they can kickyou out as a student. I don't
know what leverage you have over theuniversity relative to how it conducts its affairs
or doesn't conduct its affairs. Idon't know how you're supposed to actually make
usse Columbia, Yale, Harvard doanything that they don't want to do.
(40:25):
I don't know how you do that. Because we're talking about other different movements
led by young people. Well mademention of the Montgomery bus boycott that took
a year and a half, aboutspending a couple of days in the quad
in an encampment is not going tochange anything. And that's why I was
(40:45):
asking Michael Munks. Was there anydiscussion or was there any acknowledgement that this
was supposed to continue, at leaston USC's campus tomorrow. I don't know.
In the age of the flash mobsand instant communication, who knows it
could start up tomorrow with very littleplanning. I just don't know, using
the same techniques, the same methods, whether anything will be different tomorrow or
(41:07):
you'll be any closer to any goal. As a matter of fact, as
a member of the media, Ihave no damn idea who I would even
call if I want to talk tosomeone who is leading this movement. That's
how disorganized, my word it is. If you want to get a coherent
and cohesive message out there, therehas to be someone who has a handle
(41:28):
on the message. Now, thereare all sorts of people who want to
come on and use the microphone andmegaphone to get whatever they want out there,
But who's actually connected to the issueand that ask and I haven't found
out who that person is, whichsays to me it's not about actually changing
anything. You're listening to later withMoe Kelly on Demand from KFI AM six
(41:50):
forty. Now that the day isover, night has fallen, hopefully there
will be no more activity on thecampus of USC or in an row USC.
But the question then becomes what abouttomorrow? And I say, what
about tomorrow not only in regard toUSC, but Southern California campuses in a
(42:13):
general sense. Today it was USC, but we were listening to Tiffy Hobbs
talking about this non USC coordination andother forces and actors at play. I
wonder what may happen, like,for example, at cal Poly Humble,
you know, a little north ofhere, but still it's another campus which
has been part of these protests,which was shut down today. I wonder
(42:37):
what we may see at other SouthernCalifornia university And he's like, I don't
know, seasun Long Beach State,but UCLA because this is bigger than just
one campus. And also these ideasare being shared all around the country,
from from coast to coast. Iwonder what happens tomorrow. That's why I
(42:59):
was speaking last about something being unsustainable. If tomorrow is going to be more
of the same, be it onUSC's campus or somewhere else, I don't
know how that actually helps. Idon't know if you go back to the
campus and try to create an encampmentthat gives you closer to your goal.
I don't even know who to talkto if I wanted to find out that
(43:20):
answer. And my biggest problem hasalways been with any of these movements the
lack of organization, disorganization, thelack of focus, the lack of leverage,
the understanding of what made the civilrights movement successful. Not only do
you need to have a proper ask, you need to have leverage, and
you need to have a level ofcommitment which is going to be longer than
(43:42):
a day, longer than a week, longer than a month. And if
we're talking about student protests on campus, well, school's going to be out
in about two to three weeks.It's finals period right now. How does
this continue when you don't even havea right to stay in the dorms to
say, come back to the campus, which is largely going to be empty
(44:02):
in nature, if you've gone tocampus, you know it's pretty dead after
graduation. Does all this end withgraduation? If there's graduation, if it's
online or whatever. If it's onlinein nature, do you then lose the
opportunity to have your voice heard.I don't know if it's planned that far
out. It just seemed like theplan was just for today, just today.
(44:28):
I'm not sure what tomorrow is goingto bring, but there probably will
be protests on some level on someof these campuses. I am waiting to
see if there will be other SouthernCalifornia campuses which may be involved. I'm
curious to see if there will beanother protest at USC, because if this
(44:50):
was it, then I think theymissed their moment. I don't know if
you're going to have the same typeof media focus. I don't think you're
going to have the same type peoplewho are going to converge on USC,
which goes back to it being unsustainable. And I'm not rooting for either side.
(45:10):
I'm a student of history and I'mlooking at what has been effective in
American history when it comes to movementslargely led by young people. Just about
every major social movement had young peopleat its core. Sometimes we forget how
young people like doctor Martin Luther Kingwas during the height of the Civil Rights
(45:37):
movement. Forget how young he waswhen he came to the forefront of the
movement. We forget sometimes how youngpeople women were at the head of the
suffrage movement. You look through allthe social movements in American history, it's
young people at the head of it. And this regardless of whether it goes
(45:59):
anywhere, whether it's successful or not, young people will still lead the way.
Now, there may be others whoare older and provide counsel and guidance,
which is always the case, butultimately it's the young folks who are
putting in the work, the legwork. And to Tiffany Hobbes's point, advocacy
and activism has changed greatly because ofsocial media, because of bad actors,
(46:25):
because of outside influences, because thereare people with different agendas who insert themselves
into these movements, and because ofsocial media, it's much easier. It's
much easier. If you think about, like the March on Washington, how
in the world did doctor Martin LutherKing Junior manage to coordinate from coast to
(46:49):
coast and get some one hundred thousandpeople or more to show up on a
given day at a given location.He did not have a radio show,
he did not have a TV show. There was no internet, there was
no channel in which you could getthe word out. It was largely word
of mouth, the Black Newspapers Associationand Black churches. That's basically how they
(47:15):
spread the word for one hundred thousandpeople to show up. Now you can
get a million people to show up, or at least get the information out
to millions of people with the pressof a button. It's easier in that
regard, But at the same time, since it's easier, it's also easier
to co opt. It's a littlebit more difficult to co opt a movement
(47:37):
when information travels much more slowly.But tomorrow we'll see whether this is just
a moment or is it something whichis starting to generate momentum and will turn
into a movement. But we'll findthat out tomorrow. It's later with mo
Kelly can if. I am sixforty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
(48:00):
Whether you love us, hate us, or haven't made up your mind,
We're glad you're here. K SI, M K O S T H
D two Los Angeles, Orange County, lots everywhere on the radio.
KFIM six forty is later with MoKelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app and if you've been listening toKFI from the Tim Conway Junior Show,
we are continuing our coverage of whatis happening right now at USC. Protests
have been ongoing throughout the day andthe protest today was scheduled to go until
(00:43):
nine pm this evening, but LAPDhas intervened in the last hour to clear
out the area and has begun arrestingstudents and people who I believe are not
students who are also participating in theprotests. And NBC is showing that these
fifty people have been arrested in thesewhich are largely pro Palestinian protests at USC.
(01:07):
But let me get into that rightthere. There are some competing interests.
When we talked about USC last weekthe protests, initially we're surrounding the
valedictorian who was not going to beallowed to speak and give her speech at
graduation. Initially that was the concern, but today's protest is not that.
(01:30):
And this is where I think themessage and the messengers are very important if
you wish to have a successful protest. The protest today from what I've seen
at USC, which is different thanwhat had happened at Columbia and Yale,
University of Texas and other universities aroundthe country. Specifically what happened at USC
(01:53):
today, there's a different group whichis now asking for divestment from all things
connected to Israel, including classes,business connections, funding, things of that
nature. This is something which iscompletely different and unrelated. An idea from
(02:15):
Asn Tobala Tobasa, who is avaledictorian who has been denied the privilege of
speaking at graduation. This is somethingI talked about yesterday where you have to
be very careful about who is speakingon behalf of your movement because the messages
have gotten very muddied in nature.And although these protests around the country are
(02:38):
happening simultaneously, they are not thesame. If you're actually paying attention.
There is a general underlying theme relativeto it being pro Palestinian in nature,
but the ask and the specifics arenot the same at all. And here's
(02:59):
just some audio of what's going onaround the nation today over the different course
of the different protests around the country. Here is a Columbia University student,
I feel as though people are kindof weaponizing antisemitism and other students. We
(03:19):
are risking like our academic standing,just to like to show the administrators that
we are not okay with their decisions. It's a mess, it's very chaotic.
We're not okay with our tuition,our money going towards genocide. We
want the university to divest from deathagain. This is Columbia University today.
(03:43):
Decision to say right police to pickup peaceful protesters on our canvas was unjustified
goods proportion to the This is nowEmerson College in Boston. A student.
(04:05):
We want Emerson College number one callfor an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Number
two, to disclose all financial investmentsin Zionist organizations. Number three to divest
from those organizations. Number four todrop all charges against students for disciplinary actions.
Okay, So depends on the campus, who is in charge, who
(04:27):
is the loudest voice, what messagethey're trying to send out, and what
they're actually asking for. Let's goto the University of Texas Austin. I
would watch what was going on incollege campuses, and I would see people
shouting not for peace, they wereshouting for the destruction of Israel. They
were shouting for an into fada.They were shouting for the death of the
Zionism, and I just I sendfor peace. I want peace. I
(04:54):
don't think this protest is yash forpeace. That gives you a sample of
what was happening around the country,and it's growing in nature. We also
have the University of Michigan as well. The movement's never been bigger than it
is right now, not only atthe University of Michigan, but across the
country as we're seeing. See that'sthe thing. The movement is not uniform
(05:15):
in nature around the country. Aswe talk about what is happening at USC
specifically, it's not just USC,but it's not necessarily the same as USC.
Here's one of the USC protesters today. Okay, so did you witness
what happened? Okay, what didyou say? They took him over a
sleeping bag. He was sitting down. They grabbed a sleeping bag and they
(05:38):
pulled them off, and they starteddragging him and they threw at least twenty
people on the floor, slamming themon the floor. Men were slamming women
on the floor that were not eventouching them. A woman. One of
the police officers bent my finger backall the way and I said, over
this, over this, I wasjust sitting down miney, my own business.
Our freedoms are taken away. Wedon't have freedom here. Tell me
about what brought you out here inthe first place. Today, I'm here
(06:00):
with Colombia. What they're doing,their encampment in Colombia. We're here to
make sure that we keep using ourvoice, whether people in Gaza that are
getting destroyed, that are NonStop forseven months. This country has supported genocide.
This country has supported the bombs,has supported the slaughter of children,
the starvation of children. That's whyI'm here. It's a war. There
are other opinions different from those.Genocide is a major charge. I'm curious
(06:26):
this group has said it's anti Semitic. Some a Jewish student I spoke to
you said that they feel uncomfortable whenthey hear chants like from the River to
the Sea, which the Anti DefamationLeague, the US House of Representatives have
called anti Semitics. So what doyou say to those concerns? The Arabs
are Semites, We're not anti Semitic. Half of our group is Jews for
Peace, We're a very peaceful group. We want our freedom. We don't
want to hurt anybody. We justwant our freedom. We want our rights.
(06:49):
We want the occupation to end.We want people to be able to
travel freely. We want gods thatto have an airport. We want gods
that to have infrastructure. We wantchildren that are looking for aid and food.
That's what we're looking for. Wewant them to have a life.
They haven't been in school for oneyear. Since October. They have not
been in school. This isn't right. They're doing collective punishment. And here's
a USC professor from earlier today.I've been here twenty seven years as a
(07:13):
company number. This is one ofthe largest political protests I've ever seen.
I'm very proud of the students arestanding up for what they believe in.
The students are exercising their free speechrights. They're exercising the things that they've
been trained to do at this campus, which is to believe in their ideals,
believe in their convictions. I thinkit's sending them one message to clear
the students out. Those are someof the voices heard all around the nation
today, and people may take whateverthey want from those thoughts. This movement,
(07:40):
i'll call it a movement, isnot uniform. It is not sending
the same message, a unified message. And what we see happening at USC
is connected and related to what's happeningall around the country different campuses. But
if you drill down and pay closeattention to what students are saying, what
(08:00):
I would say outsiders are saying,you're getting different messages. And let's be
clear that this is not a unifiedmessage. This is not the same thing
everywhere. And as we continue todiscuss this tonight, we'll try to jp
down and get a better understanding ofwhat is being asked for by students on
US's campus and more, and alsohow it will affect you and your day
(08:24):
to day lives right here in southernCalifornia. You're listening to Later with Moe
Kelly on demand from KFI AM sixforty, and we're continuing to follow what
is happening down at USC, specifically. LAPD has been on scene for more
than an hour and a half.I want to stay closer to five point
thirty actually, and they've given theorder to disperse. They've commenced with arresting
(08:48):
people who refuse to move. Thereare people who are locking arms in a
circle in solidarity, surrounding other peoplewho are sitting on the ground. From
what I can see, i'm watchingNBC Force coverage, most people have been
arrested without incident. Tiffany Hobbs joinsme in studios. She's someone who's an
(09:11):
alum of USC has an understanding ofnot only the campus but also some of
the competing interests which may be aplay right now. Yes, fight on
for one. I'm a proud USCalum, and it does concern me,
however, that those on the outsideare seeing this protest as one myopic demonstration,
(09:37):
when in fact there are multiple thingsat play, and based off of
my personal involvement in activism when Iwas a college student at USC and post
graduation for the last fifteen years,I consider myself someone who is well versed
in activism. I came face toface on numerous occasions with groups that were
(10:00):
splinter organizations, organizations that were paidto go in and disrupt organized protests and
paid protesters, paid disruptors, paiddisruptors, paid agitators, and they appeared
at every every semblance of a protest. They just materialized out of nowhere,
(10:24):
And I don't believe that this isanything different. This this protest started not
because of what happened with the ValedictorianUSC. This protest, like the others
at Columbia Yale that now twelve ormore other universities around the country, is
directly related to the organization's views aboutfunding what they consider to be what they
(10:50):
consider to be a genocide in Gazathat came out of nowhere. That came
out of nowhere. But did itbecause if you follow as I do,
Palestinian journalists on the ground and othersorts of media outside of the United States,
there are attempts to galvanize the publicand they are appealing to the United
States to lead protests. And here'smy thing, I understand it. I
(11:16):
support a lot of what people areare are expressing as far as wanting obviously
the killing to end and wanting foodto be discissed in Gaza. I am
definitely, you know, a propeace person. I do not like what's
happening. I know we're not talkingabout that per se, but what's being
asked of people outside of Gaza andoutside of the Middle East is that there
(11:39):
is this galvanization that there is thisgrouping that there is this support to protest
and go against what people can whatpeople feel is the US's involvement in this
war. And again these are viewsexpressed in Gaza by Palestinian journalists on the
(12:00):
ground doing the reporting, and it'slargely over social media. Being that I
am the viral load, right orthe load Lady Park likes to call me.
I saw this coming. I've beenwatching it for ten months or or
eight months now nine months, aslong as this aggression in the situation has
been going on in Gaza, andI follow social media, so I've been
(12:20):
seeing the calls to rally and askingpeople in the United States to do things
on certain days. This is somethingthat has been in the works for a
long time, which is why thereare so many universities doing this simultaneously.
But at USC this protest is notrelated to the Gaza. To the Validisjory
(12:43):
and that is what bothers me most. Given that, again I have experience
with activism, I am sure thatthere were students there. I'm one hundred
percent sure that there were students therewho were protesting her removal as the speaker
at the time, you know,for the commencement ceremony. But what happens
as they get co opted And I'msure that the smaller organizations on campus did
(13:05):
not necessarily plan for this protest tonow get out of hand as it has.
And I've been scouring social media andI've seen lots of examples that aren't
necessarily shown on network TV, thatare more aggressive, that are teetering on
the line of violence and possibly breakingout into something more than what's been reported.
(13:28):
Let me jump in there. WhenI've been watching this coverage, and
I was actually doing television commentary spectrumearlier in the day, so I've been
watching it from a variety of anglesagain and again and again. I got
the feeling as if many of thepeople I was viewing as part of these
protests, especially now, we're notstudents, correct, And that often happens
(13:50):
with protests for any cause. Aroundthis city, around big cities in America,
there are organizations, may I sayone one, and it's called rev
com. You may have seen themaround the city with their banners or their
signs, And again, they arean organization that is pro communism. It
is right there in the name.They are revolutionary communist organization. But they
(14:13):
come in and they infiltrate, theyagitate, they disrupt, and their their
modus operandi is to get the attentionon them as as best as they can,
as quick as they can, andthey will throw the bottles, they
will push police, they will insultpolice, they will make statements that are
completely antagonistic the media in it,and they want the media's attention by any
(14:39):
means necessary. So the original intentof organizations, which are often pure in
nature they're wanting some sort of equityor resolution to whatever their issue is,
gets again co opted by these otherorganizations. The main one, one of
the main one UNS is RevCom,which has rebranded numerous times because as people
have latched on to what they doand under you know, kind of become
(15:01):
aware of their shtick, they've changedtheir name and come back so that they
can be a bit more ambiguous.But it is that, it is absolutely
that. Let me ask you that, Tiffany Hobbs alum of USC For those
who are just tuning in, I'mquite sure you came and expecting to talk
about something different tonight, but thenews happens, and so we have to
deal with the news right from this, Okay, do it well, when
(15:24):
we look at what's happening, itseems, when I say relatively because we're
only seeing one camera view, relativelypeaceful in the sense of people are being
arrested without incident. But I alsosee a lot of people kind of milling
around, and I wonder whether thatpeaceful nature of this particular protest will continue
(15:45):
as night falls. I always getconcerned the darker it gets, absolutely,
and that's what I've experienced. Therehave been plenty of very peaceful protests or
marches that I've been a part of, and as soon as night falls,
here come the bottles being thrown atpolice. Here come again the agitating statements
or the threatening statements. And itis completely deliberate as to grow up the
(16:11):
police, as to cause some sortof commotions so that they have these agitators
have a reason to become in theirminds violent toward police or anyone else who
might be trying to calm down thesituation, other protesters included. So I
am very concerned about what's going tohappen. Like you said, seeing people
milling around just gives you that anxiety. So it doesn't look good, it
(16:33):
doesn't feel good, And I believethat's why the cameras are trained on these
people now. They know they knowthat there's a possibility that things could happen,
and that's why they'll be there throughthe evening. Well, we'll be
here through the evening and give youthe latest as it happens. It's later
with mo Kelly more of our coverageof what's happening right now at USC and
also campuses all around the nation.Can if I am six forty Life Everywhere
(16:56):
on the iHeartRadio app Listening later withMoe Kelly on demand from KFIAM six forty
we continue our coverage of what's happeningright now at USC the protests there.
LAPD has moved in and they've beenmoving in over the past hour and a
half and some clarity on what isactually happening on the campus. Although some
(17:21):
television news media is reporting that morethan fifty people have been arrested, that
is not actually correct. From LAPDMedia Relations Division, they have said that
LAPD officers are just detaining. USC'sDepartment of Safety Public Safety DPS will be
handling arrests for trespassing. I takethat to mean the discretion will be given
(17:47):
to USC's officers and they will getto decide as opposed to LAPD enacting formal
arrests. So, just to putthat out there, although we may see
people taking away in zip tie slashhandcuffs, we cannot assume that they are
actually being arrested, but could possiblyonly be detained and it'll be left up
(18:11):
to DPS, which says to meprobably students will be handled differently from non
students, and we will see howthat shakes out as far as the number
of actual students involved in the protestand the people who are not students who
are also participating in the protests.And there's also a need for historical perspective
(18:37):
here, as much as we maywant to wag our finger at the young
people for protesting, whether we agreeor disagree with the protests, and there's
a lot of nuances as to whatwe can agree with what we can't can
vehemently disagree with. But here's somethingwhich is inarguable. Social movements or these
(18:57):
types of moments are cyclical in nature, they are generational in nature. They
happened about maybe every ten to fifteenyears. But the unifying facet of all
of them, they're led by youngpeople. And we generally celebrate them throughout
history. The long view of historyis the young people usually get it right.
(19:21):
Usually. Here's what I mean.Susan B. Anthony. We know
about her work as an abolitionist andalso suffrage. She participated in her first
protest at sixteen years old. DoctorMartin Luther King Junior. He was head
of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Attwenty four years old. He went to
(19:41):
college at fifteen and twenty four hewas at the head of the Montgomery Improvement
Association, which was the organization behindthe Montgomery bus boycott, Rosa Parks and
the rest, they say is history. There are all sorts of examples.
The Lake Congressman John Lewis twenty threeyears old when he spoke at the March
(20:02):
on Washington, the youngest speaker thatday. History is full of examples of
young people leading the way in momentsjust like these. And if you look
back through history, every single oneof those movements was wildly unpopular at the
time, wildly unpopular. Just wantedto put that out there as we talk
(20:26):
about how this moment and where itfits in the larger aspect of history,
and we talk about usc because it'slocal, either we went there, like
Tiffany Hobbs, either we've driven bythere, either we're a fan of one
of the teams. It's personal onsome level for us. We can relate
to it on some level. Butpart of talking about USC is understanding that
(20:49):
USC may be a part of thelarger discussion of protests going on around the
country. But as Tiffany Hobbs madevery clear, it's not what is happening
on other campuses. Because USC,in large parts started having to do with
the valedictorian and how she was deprivedof the opportunity to speak at graduation.
(21:18):
This protest today had absolutely nothing todo with her, absolutely nothing. Now,
there may be students who participated inthe protests who did not forget about
her, did not lose sight ofher, but the loudest voices, the
people that you saw and heard onTV, the people who were posting the
supposed demands of the protests, didnot include her at all. Is a
(21:41):
list of demands I guess we're postedon social media. I've seen them reference
in some news articles asking for acomplete divestment from Israel. The university should
making sure that there are no sortsof funds which are being used for tell
me, Tiffany, I can't rememberall of them, but they were very
(22:02):
vague in nature. Sure it wasrelated to, like you said, funding
the funding of weaponry to Israel andother factions that are a part of this
aggression on or at or in Gazain Palestine. So they largely were financial
in nature, Okay, had nothingto do with often as possible, not
(22:26):
these original ones. No, andif I may mo, I've been looking.
In the last segment, I spokeabout these fringe groups. One specifically
that it's called RevCom La. Theirnew name is RevCom core La, and
they actually posted on their social mediathis fringe group essentially a declaration of intent
(22:51):
to disrupt anything that USC might dotoday because of what they feel is a
lack of support of us sees.Palestinian organizations are pro Palestinian organization explicit they're
involved. They're involved, And Isaid this, I speculated because I had
it on good authority based off ofexperience, that they were likely involved in
(23:12):
Here they are proudly saying that theyare, but they're also again arguing on
social media with USC centered groups,USC, pro Palestinian groups and groups that
have said that they were speaking upfor asna A Bossam by saying that unless
you are speaking up for asna ABossom and communism, and there they're candidates
(23:40):
for president co opting and then herewe go. So now it's fireworks because
they're taking it personally. They're sayingyou're not supporting us, and to not
support us as a direct attack attackon those who are pro this or pro
that. So it's all conflated andthese are the groups that are there,
likely on the front lines getting arrested. When we come back, we'll check
(24:03):
in with kfi's own Michael Monks,who's still on sne down at USC.
It's Later with mo Kelly CAFIM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Later with mo Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with mo Kelly Live everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. As we continue
our coverage of the events and unfoldingat USC, the protests which have gone
(24:25):
on all day today. Originally theywere scheduled to go until nine pm.
LAPD came in by my estimation somewherearound five point thirty, started clearing people
out, gave the order to disperseand then began what we thought originally was
arresting people. We then were informedLAPD was just detaining them and handing them
(24:47):
over to DPS Department of Public Safetyfor USC, and USC would then make
the decision of whether they would eventuallyarrest them or or release them. Kfi's
own Michael Monks is on the scenescene right now, USC, and he
joins me, good evening, Michael, hey me, thanks for having me
on. The scene is considerably smallerthan it was earlier in the day,
(25:08):
that's for sure. When do yousay considerably smaller about how many people have
yet to leave the scene? Well, you know, it's been hard to
tell since I got here a coupleof hours ago, who exactly is a
protester and who exactly is a spectatorbecause you have this spectacle taking place,
(25:30):
and a lot of the students Ican see standing a bit away from the
center of the protest are mostly observingand taking photos and talking amongst themselves.
What you hear possibly in the backgroundon all the phonus picking up you hear
a lot of drumming, still somenoise making, but all of the students
and the protesters who were seated onthe ground refusing to move from Alumni Park
(25:51):
earlier today, they've all been takenaway, and as you noted, it
will be the decision of the campuspolice here on what their legal state is.
Right now, the chanting is stillgoing on, but the police are
standing in the middle of Alumni partand we're not sure what's happening next.
But I'm seeing a bit of movement. They're sort of condensing amongst themselves in
(26:15):
front of the last remaining chunk ofprotesters who are here. There's certainly a
loud group, but they're considerably smaller. Mo it's about I'm eyeballing. I'd
see one hundred people left protesting,and probably a little bit more than that
who are watching. How would youdescribe LAPD's posture. Are they geared up,
(26:37):
are they concerned about the correat aroundthem? Or is it more relaxed
in nature. I think a littlebit ago there was an air of uncertainty.
It was very strange on the campushere at USC because it was very
normal on the outskirts of the campus, people in backpacks, you know,
going into coffee shops and that sortof thing. But when you got closer
(26:59):
to the center, of events.You have the helicopters flying overhead, you
have guys like me, the mediarunning around, and then these police officers
with helmets and face mask and baton'sdrawn, and you know the little ties
that they used to arrest some ofthese folks. There was tension in the
air, but nothing that I observedat the height of this compared to what
(27:19):
we've seen on other campuses across thecountry, whether it be the Ivy League
or at UT Austen earlier today.In fact, just about a half hour
ago, mo I overheard a coupleof the laped officers talking. One said
to the other, what are westill doing here? I guess that's good
news on some level, because ifthey're questioning what they're still doing there,
then I guess there's not a threat, if you will, which is imminent.
(27:41):
Is that fair to say? Ithink that's exactly right. I think
that's what a lot of us whoare in the media remaining here unseen,
are wondering. Are they going tocall for further dispersement? Right like,
get off the campus. We're shuttingthis thing down for good tonight. It's
time to go home. You've statedyour case. Time to go home.
And then will anything escalate from there. I don't get the sense that police
(28:04):
are anticipating that. They're still verystrict about where you can maneuver on campus.
I almost walked into the wrong spotand I got corrected just moments ago,
so they're still paying very close attentionto where you could be on the
campus. However, you do getthe sense that this is probably about to
be finished. It's certainly winding downdespite some of the noise from the remaining
(28:27):
protest. Do you know, inmaybe conversation with students, do you know
if there's been any type of formalresponse or message sent out by the university.
The university sent a message out earliertoday that seemed rather typical of university
pronouncements, where they have to walkthat fine line of let's keep things in
(28:49):
order, but let's also recognize,you know, the people's rights and that
sort of things that came out earlierin the afternoon from one of the provosts
here at USC. I have notseen anything about what's happening directly now at
this hour. Again, I thinkthey're probably grateful that it was as minors
(29:12):
it was. There were certainly Idon't know that we can say arrest,
but apprehensions of people taken into custodyat least. But even that moment was
people. I mean, these werefolks who were sitting on the ground with
their arms locked, and they surrenderedindividually within minutes of each other. It
seemed to be some coordinated surrender downto the last guy. They'd stand up
(29:32):
and they'd be they have their theirhands tied and they'd be escorted away.
Again, we don't know whether they'rearrested, excited for trespassing or what,
but you know, it's been it'sbeen a different scene than what we thought
the IVY leagues than U see Austintoday. If you've read any attention to
those videos that were circulated. Yeah, the reason I asked that because I
wonder whether the university has made anytype of vindication that classes would not be
(29:56):
held tomorrow, or whether they wouldbe held online, Whether protesters had any
designs or plans to return to thecampus tomorrow. I can't speak to that,
but this was meant to be alonger affair here. They had tents
here earlier. A lot of pizzerswere consumed. Strangely, I saw a
(30:18):
lot of milk out in the middleof this field. I don't know how
long people were planning on staying here, but it looked like they wanted to
occupy this park for a while.Whether they try again tomorrow is yet to
be seen. We'll see if theyhave the energy for it, and I'll
keep an eye out for those messagesfor sure. Okay, to be clear,
the encampments have been completely removed thenat this point it's completely gone.
(30:44):
Right now here at Alumni Park inthe middle of campus, you have probably
more or an equal number of policeofficers to protesters. That ratio is just
about one to one, and againto add another one to that ratio,
are just there are folks who arewatching. I think it seems that a
lot of the response to this mayhave been creditated upon what was witnessed elsewhere
(31:10):
across the country during related protests,and so in order to be prepared for
a really bad situation like we haveseen in other campuses, this is the
response here. It did not riseto that level here today by my estimation,
by what I witnessed, people weretaken into custody. They did surrender
(31:30):
themselves. They are loud, butthis is not unusual in terms of protests
on a college campus, like whatwe have seen at some of the other
places before I let you go.I know there were some isolated incidents I
could see on TV. There wassome pushing between protesters in LAPD. You
are on site, did you witnessanything which was beyond that or more extreme
(31:52):
than that? Now? I thinkthose skirmishes that we saw that on social
media were really hard to determine theaccuracy of the circumstances surrounding some of that.
So will I have witnessed over thepast couple of hours. It's been
just to stand off, really andnot that's probably even too harsh of a
word, because while yes, there'stension here because it's a protest, mostly
(32:15):
the police have been quietly enforcing thethe zones that people are allowed to go
in, and then surrounding the protesterswho were seated. The protesters who were
seated were also very quiet. Youonly heard noise from a little chunk and
they're still here. Of these protesterswho were banging on drums and bells and
chanting a little bit, otherwise veryuneventful. Even the arrests were very quiet.
(32:40):
There'd be a little bit of applausefor each individual who was taken away,
but otherwise silence. Michael Monks,I know, last question. I
know you're getting ready to get outof there. On your way in.
Did you see people coming from theoutside community coming to the campus at that
time? It was it's range.By the time that I got here,
(33:00):
we leaving one of our colleagues fromthe newsroom, they had locked all of
the gates around the campus, soany idea you had on how you were
going to come into USC was probablydisrupted. So I got sent around a
lot of different places before I couldfinally even get here, and yet there
were some people, but what Isaw mostly were people leaving. Like I
(33:22):
told you at the top, itwas interesting coming in because on the outside
of campus, on the outskirts,around the sidewalks and the businesses, folks
were going about their day. WhenI arrived, I expected to see,
I think, a different scene inmy mind based on what I had been
following all day, and through thecontrary, it was just a normal day
(33:43):
here around campus, except when yougot to the middle of it. Michael
Monks, thank you for the greatinformation. Be safe out there, hey,
my pleasure Moe. Talk to yousoon with Kenny Live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app and if you're just tuningin, we've been covering what has been
(34:06):
happening on the campus of USC.And to be clear, although some media
sources and news outlets are reporting thatthere have been dozens and dozens of arrests,
I just want to tell you whatLAPD has told us where students other
people involved have not been arrested asof this moment, They've been detained and
(34:30):
then USC's Department of Public Safety DPSwill be handling arrests for trespassing. DPS
will have the discretion as to whetherthey're going to arrest or just release anyone
involved in today's protests. And ifyou have been following our coverage, we
spoke to Michael Monks last segment andhe reiterated what we saw that the moments
(34:54):
in which LAPD stepped in and quoteunquote arrested or detain someone you know,
put the zip ties on the hands, that was largely without incident, and
they were taken to another area tobe processed. There were no for the
most part, no loud moments.It wasn't any type of push pull That's
(35:20):
the only way I can describe it. It was relatively without incident, and
I think that's great for everyone involved. Something Michael Monks said I want to
pick up on is where that thisday at UC was unlike what we saw
at Columbia, what we saw atYale, what we saw at the University
of Texas Austin. We saw somethingvery different there. We know that the
(35:44):
issues which were being broached were slightlydifferent. The ask by students was different
here at USC. It was muchmore tame, if you will, not
as contentious, and the ass hadto do more with divestment and things unrelated
(36:05):
to what originally was the supposed issueat USC, having to do with the
valedictorian and the invitation rescinded to speakat graduation. When I woke up this
morning and I saw that protests wereforming at USC, I instinctively thought,
and I was wrong, that ithad to do with Astin Tobossom and whether
(36:30):
she would be reinstated to be thevaledictorian and speaker for graduation. I thought
maybe that the protests had to dowith how graduation commencement was going to be
conducted on some level. You knowthat we've reported that all commencement speakers were
removed. I thought the protests mighthave been centered around that they had zero
(36:54):
to do with any of that.It had nothing to do with the commencement,
had nothing to do with the commencementspeakers, had nothing to do with
what originally people were upset about onUSC's campus, and that brought to mind
that there may have been other factors, other actors at play. And tonight
I had Tiffany Hobbs, who usuallyjoins us on a Wednesday evening, but
(37:15):
she joined us a little earlier becauseshe has experience and insight as an activist
as a USC alum, to giveus some perspective on what may have been
happening and what definitely was happening onthe ground at USC. I'm looking mo
at social media, and two daysago there were protests on USC's campus for
(37:38):
Asna to Bossom, specifically specifically speakingto students upset at her not being able
to speak during the commencement as thevaledictorian, and that protest wasn't covered nearly
as largely as this one is,obviously, and so like you're saying,
(37:58):
today's protests is more in line withwhat's happening around the country, and there's
an alignment amongst these larger organizations oruniversities, rather to organization within the universities,
for sure, to amplify their message, which is, of course,
as they're saying, to be criticalof what they considers the US's involvement or
(38:22):
complicitness in what's happening in Gaza andin Israel, or Israel versus Gaza.
So what you're saying is true ifyou're looking at social media and you're following
the story, there are different argumentsat play, they're different intents at play.
(38:43):
What you would think would be thereason for these protests, obviously,
to again speak to Asna, toBossam not being able to do her commencement
speeches valedictorian is not necessarily what's happening, and that is a problem, and
that muddles and conflates all of thesearguments. And you don't know what the
true organizers are, who those organizersare, what's really happening. Everything is
(39:07):
very muddled, and when things arenot clear, that's when you have this
likelihood or propensity for things to getout of control. And as nightfalls,
as you said a few segments ago, that's when things can become more volatile.
My greate is concern Before we goto brig I should say one of
my many great concerns is if youwere a person who either protested today or
(39:35):
you are in alignment solidarity with theprotesters earlier today, I have to ask,
how is this sustainable? How doyou expect any of your ass your
grievances to be met. If you'rea student, all you can do is
lose the right to or privileged toattend school and get your education. At
(39:58):
USC we're at the end of theterm. You know, they can kick
you out of the dorms at toa certain point, they can kick you
off campus, and they can kickyou out as a student. I don't
know what leverage you have over theuniversity relative to how it conducts its affairs
or doesn't conduct its affairs. Idon't know how you're supposed to actually make
usse Columbia, Yale, Harvard doanything that they don't want to do.
(40:25):
I don't know how you do that. Because we're talking about other different movements
led by young people. Well mademention of the Montgomery bus boycott that took
a year and a half, aboutspending a couple of days in the quad
in an encampment is not going tochange anything. And that's why I was
(40:45):
asking Michael Munks. Was there anydiscussion or was there any acknowledgement that this
was supposed to continue, at leaston USC's campus tomorrow. I don't know.
In the age of the flash mobsand instant communication, who knows it
could start up tomorrow with very littleplanning. I just don't know, using
the same techniques, the same methods, whether anything will be different tomorrow or
(41:07):
you'll be any closer to any goal. As a matter of fact, as
a member of the media, Ihave no damn idea who I would even
call if I want to talk tosomeone who is leading this movement. That's
how disorganized, my word it is. If you want to get a coherent
and cohesive message out there, therehas to be someone who has a handle
(41:28):
on the message. Now, thereare all sorts of people who want to
come on and use the microphone andmegaphone to get whatever they want out there,
But who's actually connected to the issueand that ask and I haven't found
out who that person is, whichsays to me it's not about actually changing
anything. You're listening to later withMoe Kelly on Demand from KFI AM six
(41:50):
forty. Now that the day isover, night has fallen, hopefully there
will be no more activity on thecampus of USC or in an row USC.
But the question then becomes what abouttomorrow? And I say, what
about tomorrow not only in regard toUSC, but Southern California campuses in a
(42:13):
general sense. Today it was USC, but we were listening to Tiffy Hobbs
talking about this non USC coordination andother forces and actors at play. I
wonder what may happen, like,for example, at cal Poly Humble,
you know, a little north ofhere, but still it's another campus which
has been part of these protests,which was shut down today. I wonder
(42:37):
what we may see at other SouthernCalifornia university And he's like, I don't
know, seasun Long Beach State,but UCLA because this is bigger than just
one campus. And also these ideasare being shared all around the country,
from from coast to coast. Iwonder what happens tomorrow. That's why I
(42:59):
was speaking last about something being unsustainable. If tomorrow is going to be more
of the same, be it onUSC's campus or somewhere else, I don't
know how that actually helps. Idon't know if you go back to the
campus and try to create an encampmentthat gives you closer to your goal.
I don't even know who to talkto if I wanted to find out that
(43:20):
answer. And my biggest problem hasalways been with any of these movements the
lack of organization, disorganization, thelack of focus, the lack of leverage,
the understanding of what made the civilrights movement successful. Not only do
you need to have a proper ask, you need to have leverage, and
you need to have a level ofcommitment which is going to be longer than
(43:42):
a day, longer than a week, longer than a month. And if
we're talking about student protests on campus, well, school's going to be out
in about two to three weeks.It's finals period right now. How does
this continue when you don't even havea right to stay in the dorms to
say, come back to the campus, which is largely going to be empty
(44:02):
in nature, if you've gone tocampus, you know it's pretty dead after
graduation. Does all this end withgraduation? If there's graduation, if it's
online or whatever. If it's onlinein nature, do you then lose the
opportunity to have your voice heard.I don't know if it's planned that far
out. It just seemed like theplan was just for today, just today.
(44:28):
I'm not sure what tomorrow is goingto bring, but there probably will
be protests on some level on someof these campuses. I am waiting to
see if there will be other SouthernCalifornia campuses which may be involved. I'm
curious to see if there will beanother protest at USC, because if this
(44:50):
was it, then I think theymissed their moment. I don't know if
you're going to have the same typeof media focus. I don't think you're
going to have the same type peoplewho are going to converge on USC,
which goes back to it being unsustainable. And I'm not rooting for either side.
(45:10):
I'm a student of history and I'mlooking at what has been effective in
American history when it comes to movementslargely led by young people. Just about
every major social movement had young peopleat its core. Sometimes we forget how
young people like doctor Martin Luther Kingwas during the height of the Civil Rights
(45:37):
movement. Forget how young he waswhen he came to the forefront of the
movement. We forget sometimes how youngpeople women were at the head of the
suffrage movement. You look through allthe social movements in American history, it's
young people at the head of it. And this regardless of whether it goes
(45:59):
anywhere, whether it's successful or not, young people will still lead the way.
Now, there may be others whoare older and provide counsel and guidance,
which is always the case, butultimately it's the young folks who are
putting in the work, the legwork. And to Tiffany Hobbes's point, advocacy
and activism has changed greatly because ofsocial media, because of bad actors,
(46:25):
because of outside influences, because thereare people with different agendas who insert themselves
into these movements, and because ofsocial media, it's much easier. It's
much easier. If you think about, like the March on Washington, how
in the world did doctor Martin LutherKing Junior manage to coordinate from coast to
(46:49):
coast and get some one hundred thousandpeople or more to show up on a
given day at a given location.He did not have a radio show,
he did not have a TV show. There was no internet, there was
no channel in which you could getthe word out. It was largely word
of mouth, the Black Newspapers Associationand Black churches. That's basically how they
(47:15):
spread the word for one hundred thousandpeople to show up. Now you can
get a million people to show up, or at least get the information out
to millions of people with the pressof a button. It's easier in that
regard, But at the same time, since it's easier, it's also easier
to co opt. It's a littlebit more difficult to co opt a movement
(47:37):
when information travels much more slowly.But tomorrow we'll see whether this is just
a moment or is it something whichis starting to generate momentum and will turn
into a movement. But we'll findthat out tomorrow. It's later with mo
Kelly can if. I am sixforty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
(48:00):
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