In a video montage praising anti-“woke” college students on Thursday evening, the Republican National Convention featured a clip that showed University of Mississippi students confronting a Black student who was protesting in favor of Palestinian rights. The RNC’s montage cut the clip off just before it showed a man who made monkey sounds and gestures at her.

Journalist Stacey J. Spiehler shot the original video while reporting for the Mississippi Free Press on May 2. After a diverse group of pro-Palestine supporters gathered to protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza, hundreds of mostly white students surrounded them.

The media contact for UM For Palestine, Jaylin Smith, was the target of the monkey gestures as well as other obscene gestures. Some of the counter-protesters chanted, “Lizzo! Lizzo! Lizzo!” at her, referring to the music star.

“At a university which promotes diversity, equity and inclusivity, I’m standing for my right to free speech and getting things thrown at me, and officers are putting their hands on me to move me back,” Smith, a graduate student, told Spiehler on May 2.

Though the RNC’s clip cut out the part showing the fraternity member making the monkey gestures, it did show Smith as she faced off with a group of mostly white men, some yelling. The Donald Trump presidential campaign previously used Spiehler’s clip in a campaign ad in May.

The RNC’s montage also shows clips of student counter-protesters opposing pro-Palestine activists at other universities, including Louisiana State University.

“Giving us some hope there that not all college students have gone woke,” the voice of Newsmax co-host Bob Brooks intones as the montage plays the clip showing the UM students. 

“Woke” is a term that originated in Black culture to describe enlightenment on issues of systemic racism and white supremacy. But since 2020, many conservatives have used “woke” pejoratively to describe people who hold anti-racist and other pro-social-justice views.

MeidasTouch Senior Digital Editor Acyn posted the part of the RNC montage featuring the UM protest on Twitter on Wednesday night. MeidasTouch is an anti-Trump SuperPAC.

After Spiehler’s video drew national headlines in May, a national fraternity announced that it had removed a member for “racist actions.”

“The racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter,” the national fraternity said in May. “The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3.”

The RNC featured the montage on Wednesday night ahead of Trump vice presidential pick Sen. JD Vance’s speech to the convention. Trump himself is set to speak this evening as he accepts the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Many of Mississippi’s top Republicans, including Gov. Tate Reeves, are in Milwaukee, Wisc., for the convention.

The RNC did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

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Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.