The Pitt News
T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | November 7, 2019 | Volume 110 | Issue 60
PITT STILL INVESTIGATING SLURS AGAINST BLACK STUDENT
VLOGGER DAVID DOBRIK TALKS YOUTUBE AT THE WPU
Jon Moss
Assistant News Editor After returning from a Tyler, The Creator rap concert in the early hours of Sept. 25, Jamal Johnson just wanted to get ready for bed. But on the way to his room, the black first-year student found a racial slur written on a bulletin board on his Holland Hall South floor. Johnson said he found the statement “Jamal = Aunt Jemima,” equating him to the black female character serving as the face of a breakfast food company, which many consider to be an offensive embodiment of racist stereotypes. Johnson reported the writing to his floor’s resident assistant the following day, and met with the building’s resident director later that week. They told him that the Pitt Program Council hosted YouTube personality and vlogger David Dobrik Wednesday night in the William Pitt University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion Union Assembly Room. Romita Das staff photographer would open an investigation into the writing. able people on the internet. Dobrik started his career on the now-deJohnson, a native of west Philadelphia, Mary Rose O’Donnell Students had already started lining up in funct social media platform Vine while still said that he expected college to be different Contributing Editor both the standby and ticket-holder lines at 1 in high school. His YouTube channel now from home, but did not expect to deal with A packed room of excited students p.m. to see Dobrik, a YouTube personality, consists of his series of exactly 4-minute-andincidents of racism directed at him. cheered and applauded as a 23-year-old man take the stage on Wednesday night in Pitt 20-second-long vlogs, which often feature co“I came to college just to get my educa- in a Pitt sweatshirt and baseball cap emerged Program Council’s “An Evening With David medic bits, pranks and surprising his friends tion, not to have to deal with being targeted from a back door. While he looked the part, Dobrik. ” The event took place in the Assembly with a brand new car. in my own residence hall,” Johnson, an Eng- he wasn’t another regular Pitt student — this Room in the William Pitt Union and about His vlogs mainly feature his group of See Slurs on page 2 was David Dobrik, one of the most recogniz- 500 students were in attendance. See Dobrik on page 7