The University of Mississippi, more commonly known as Ole Miss, cancels a "Greek Life" retreat when students became triggered at the sight of a banana peel hanging in a tree on campus.
Ryan Swanson, a student at Old Miss, told the student newspaper that he couldn't find a garbage can so he threw the banana peel into the street.
Later the discarded banana was spotted by Makala McNeil, who is the president of a historically black sorority called Alpha Kappa Alpha. Instead of seeing it as garbage, she became triggered and assumed it was a symbol of racism.
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Per Daily Wire:
“The overall tone was heavy. I mean, we were talking about race in Mississippi and in the Greek community so there’s a lot involved,” McNeil recalled about the incident. According to Campus Reform, she later admitted that she and a friend became "just sort of paranoid for a second," after seeing the banana.
Word spread about the banana once McNeil returned to the retreat, and students quickly became agitated — some even left the retreat in tears, believing they were in the midst of a racial incident on campus. Students told the organizers that they "didn't feel safe" any longer at the retreat, and "didn't feel welcome."
Organizers, sensing the students' discomfort, cancelled all remaining Greek Life activities for the weekend.
Not surprisingly, Swanson the banana thrower has issued an apology to the Greek community“Although unintentional, there is no excuse for the pain that was caused to members of our community,” Swanson said in a statement. “I have much to learn and look forward to doing such and encourage all members of our community to do the same."
So that's right. By throwing a banana peel on the ground on campus, Swanson ignited a racial feud. Hopefully Ole Miss adds more trash cans to the campus.
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