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Hello all,

To begin, I apologize for not posting this sooner. I'm dealing with an unrelated, personal emergency that is still not fully resolved. Unfortunately, that had to take priority, even considering the gravity of the situation with Mark Schierbecker's session at Skepticon.

Regarding Mark's session:

I have watched the video of the session in full twice now. I have also consulted with friends and colleagues (including other activists who are POC) about what Mark said that I found offensive on Saturday, and which prompted me to end my role with him as his pro bono publicist, and to claim that he said "indefensibly racist" things in a statement.

After re-watching the video twice, talking to these people about it, and reflecting, I have concluded that I was wrong to claim that Mark said "indefensibly racist" things. For this I owe Mark a sincere and full apology, which I hope to make personally to him in private and in person soon, rather than online and publicly here. As I have said before, I believe Mark is a good person and that he is doing what he can to learn from this, as we all are.

As I said during the session, I am still unhappy with the role the media has played this past week (including Mark) in using Mark's video to divert attention away from the news coverage of racism at Mizzou. It is my understanding that Mark feels similarly.

In the days following the "clash" incident last Monday, a mass death threat against Black students was issued on social media, and a white person was arrested for it. Independently (as far as we know so far), the sign in front of the Black Culture Center at Mizzou was vandalized.

Did the news media cover this?

Barely—and that is partially because they were busy interviewing Mark about his video. I see this as an example of white privilege, and it is what upset me on Saturday. I think that is both a serious problem and a learning opportunity for the media (including Mark, seeing as he is a journalist as well).

As I said during the Skepticon session, I am disturbed that the focus on Mark's video has given "ammo" to racists to shift the narrative away from race relations, where it belongs, and where #ConcernedStudent1950 has spent so much time, energy, and effort to gain national coverage of their cause.

I'm of course not saying I don't support a free press, nor that I think the alleged assault by Mizzou Assistant Professor Melissa Click against Mark does not deserve real attention from Mizzou administration. What we seem to have here is video proof that a member of the Mizzou faculty (who does not have tenure) assaulted a student. To my knowledge, she was simply able to issue a personal and written apology, and that was the end of it from the University's perspective. There has been no administrative investigation and she has not been placed on administrative leave. That is wrong and must be addressed.

What I am saying, though, is that I don't think this warranted *news coverage* when simultaneously, there was an active shooter mass death threat against Black students (!), and an arrest was being made because of those death threats.

That is white privilege in action and I think it's in the best interest of all of us to learn from this and make it better.

I have previously issued an apology statement for my role in hosting the Skepticon session with Mark. We should never have done so without having anyone from #ConcernedStudent1950 present, and POC represented on stage. I stand by that apology.

I hope that I will learn from this, and that my friends and colleagues, and especially Mark, will forgive me so that we can all get back to fighting the good fight.

Thank you for reading.

- DM

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Concerned Student 1950

P.S. It should go without saying, but apparently can't, that it is inappropriate and cruel to use this incident as an attack against people on the spectrum, and/or against trans people. The last thing we need is even more diversion. The point is that we all agree that we need to work together to fight racism. Thank you.