An ASU Cronkite student is under fire after she retweeted an article on Saturday about the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rae’Lee Klein’s tweets immediately drew criticism from other students, and now student leadership is asking the Dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to remove Klein from her position as station manager of The Blaze Radio, a paid position with the school.
“Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted,” Klein’s deleted tweet had said.
Students immediately took to Twitter in response to her tweets, furious at her approach and calling for the Cronkite school to look into this matter.
Mitchell Zimmerman, President of the Walter Cronkite College Council, wrote an email to Dean Kristin Gilger of the Cronkite School asking for Klein to be removed from her position.
“We were taught and continue to be guided on the journalism principles to seek truth, minimize harm, act transparently and be accountable,” Zimmerman said in the email.
We want what’s best for our diverse community at the Cronkite School. No one should feel excluded or discriminated against. pic.twitter.com/QuDn9lBdSg
— Walter Cronkite College Council (@cronkite_cc) August 29, 2020
He said that Klein represents a multitude of students within Blaze Radio, and by posting these tweets, she has potentially caused the harm and exclusion of students of color, specifically Black students.
Zimmerman also said Klein’s actions on Twitter are completely against the Cronkite School’s ideals of seeking truth and minimizing harm, something the Cronkite Council strives to achieve. He said the Council is a representation of all student media within it and Klein’s actions are a misrepresentation of the Council and of Blaze Radio.
“We are honored to represent every student and student organization within our great school, however, we cannot stand by and allow this to happen,” the email said. “The College Council serves all student organizations and students within the Cronkite School, regardless of their background. Due to these posts by the Station Manager for the Blaze Radio, we believe that this is not in keeping with our ideals, nor the Cronkite School’s.”
Klein’s deleted tweet included a story from the New York Post that reported why there was a warrant was out for Blake’s arrest. The story says the police acted on the warrant that wanted Blake for alleged sexual assault, and also claimed Blake was armed with a knife.
Downtown Devil has reached out to Dean Gilger and the Cronkite School for a comment. Klein later issued an apology on Twitter after deleting the tweet.
“It was not my intent to make an excuse for what happened to Jacob Blake. The incident is tragic in every sense of the word. The point of my tweet was to provide an additional perspective,” her tweet said.
Kiarra Spottsville, President of the National Association of Black Journalists at Arizona State University, said Klein’s tweet shouldn’t have been made.
“Black people can see themselves in Jacob Blake,” Spottsville said. “If you’re not a part of the community…it’s not your responsibility to decide whether or not [her tweet] was offensive.”
Spottsville said because Klein’s meaning of her tweets remain up for interpretation, it might not be a clear violation of the Cronkite School’s policies.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think Cronkite can really do anything about it,” Spottsville said. “But I would like to see Blaze Radio remove her from her student leader position.”
Blaze Radio released a statement that evening and said the station firmly believes that Black Lives Matter and that they are committed to the inclusion and involvement of everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or background.
— Blaze Radio (@BlazeRadioASU) August 29, 2020
“The tweet came from a personal account and was in no way directly affiliated with Blaze Radio,” the statement said. “As a station, we do not condone the tweet or the messaging within it in any way.”
This story will be updated with further information.
Correction: An earlier published headline insinuated that Jacob Blake had died. The headline has been corrected and we deeply regret this error.
Contact the reporters at smedwar7@asu.edu and jorteg23@asu.edu.
Sara Edwards was the executive editor of Downtown Devil. She is a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Sara has additional bylines in Phoenix New Times, West Valley View, L.A. Downtown News and Boardwalk Times.
Sara is also the co-secretary for the Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition.
