XPost: talk.politics.guns, mn.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.war.civil.usa   
   From: lying.exaggerating.sack.of.shit@tim.walz   
      
   Minneapolis, MN – On the evening of September 7, 2017, dozens gathered on   
   the University of Minnesota (UMN) Minneapolis campus and marched in an open   
   show of resistance against rape and fraternity culture during the   
   fraternities’ prime recruitment    
   week.   
      
   Individuals had been invited to gather at 9pm on the East bank of the   
   Minneapolis UMN campus to “Start off the school year right and dance against   
   the frats and capitalist heteropatriarchy!” Members of the Unlawful Assembly   
   Marching Band were in    
   attendance to provide live, mobile music for the dance party.   
      
   As the band began their first song people started dancing and walking on the   
   sidewalk down SE University Avenue, heading down “frat row” the location   
   of the majority of fraternity houses near the UMN campus. The group quickly   
   took to the streets    
   behind a large pink banner, its message “Kill Rapists” emblazoned in large   
   black glittery letters and accompanied by images of a chef’s knife and brass   
   knuckles.   
      
   The group turned north immediately after Zeta Psi fraternity and then marched   
   west on SE 4th Street in front of the fraternities located there. Chants   
   included “Fuck the frats,” “Smash rape culture,” “Kill Rapists,”   
   and “We’ll be back.”   
      
   This past week marked the beginning of the UMN 2017-2018 school year, as well   
   as “rush week” when Greek letter organizations such as fraternities   
   determinedly begin to recruit more members. As outdoor parties were being held   
   in yards of most of the    
   frat houses this past Thursday, fraternity members, younger prospective   
   pledges, and others attending the frat parties were greeted by a small yet   
   militant group of individuals who had a harsh message of rejection for the   
   fraternities.   
      
   One of the organizers of the action (who wishes to remain anonymous) said to   
   Unicorn Riot that the fraternities “basically promote a culture of   
   protecting rapists” and that despite continuing revelations of survivors of   
   fraternity rapes, the    
   organizations have experienced little impediment to recruiting new membership   
   or to their reputation.   
      
   This organizer also said that the aim of the militant march was “letting   
   them know that this shit’s not gonna fly here” and that “they will   
   always have to plan their events around resistance that will only escalate and   
   grow in numbers.” Another    
   organizer described the purpose of the action as resistance to fraternities as   
   a whole because of many toxic aspects of frat culture:   
      
   They’ve been raping people, they’ve been a force of terror for people of   
   color and trans folks, and we’re trying to tell them to get the fuck out and   
   that they’re not wanted here.” – Event organizer   
      
   Seven years ago, in September 2010 the local chapter of the Delta Kappa   
   Epsilon fraternity was the site of a sexual assault by one of its members, as   
   were local chapters of fraternities Chi Psi and Phi Gamma Delta. DKE locally   
   received a four-year    
   suspension from its national headquarters as a result of the actions of its   
   local membership.   
      
   Numerous fraternity chapters in Minneapolis alone have made the news much more   
   recently with regards to sexual assault and rape culture:   
      
   In October 2016 two members were expelled from UMN Sigma Phi Epsilon (motto   
   “Building Balanced Men”) as a result of their having interfered in a rape   
   investigation; in 2014 after a fraternity member violently raped someone (the   
   man is now serving six    
   years in prison for this and another rape), two of his frat brothers called   
   the victim-survivor, attempting to manipulate her into not reporting the rape   
   to police by asking her to “think about what the consequences [are] with him   
   and his future.”   
   In January 2017 a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi UMN reportedly sexually assaulted   
   a pledge and continued to harass him afterwards and threaten him with blackmail   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)