But that’s what happened on March 5 to the PhD candidate in political science at Simon Fraser University and author of the paper “Why I do not support the Black Lives Matter movement.”
News 1130 deleted its article, titled “BLM resorts to ‘emotional blackmail,’ argues SFU academic,” shortly after publishing it and before Orlu even had a chance to read it.
Orlu, who came to Canada from Nigeria in 2010 to begin her post-secondary education, told The Epoch Times that the removal of the article “took me by surprise,” adding that she was offered no explanation by the radio station or the journalist who interviewed her.
The deleted tweet had read in part: “In an effort to ensure fair and balanced coverage, we are seeking additional voices for this story.”
Orlu shot back: “Support for Black Lives Matter has dominated the mainstream narrative, so I’m at a loss as to why my informed opinion (backed by data) on the movement and its organizations doesn’t contribute to ‘fair and balanced’ coverage.”
In another tweet she noted that her paper had been peer reviewed by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, which published the essay on its website.
By citing American data and “given the dearth of race-specific data on crime in Canada,” Orlu’s paper chronicles her journey starting from when she “fully embraced the BLM movement, endorsing the protests and riots” following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, when she was an undergrad.
