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The Giant Teacup of Racial Justice Comes to Twitter

Sometimes you need a meme to get a message across.

Last week, a video surfaced of a frat brother at the University of Oklahoma leading his fellow bros in a racist chant littered with the N-word. The students were expelled, but the university gave them campus police protection and declined to release their names to the press—privileges that naturally invited criticism.

One especially poetic came from Twitter user @menifee901, a man with a giant cup.

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"Black kids get killed and the news tells their whole past, but we can't even get the names of those SAE students," he wrote, appending a photo of himself peering over the edge of a massive cup that is at least triple the size of his head.

It's adorned with the phrase "Enjoy the little things in life" (a joke because the cup is so large) and a bucolic bird.

black kids get killed and the news tells their whole past, but we can't even get the names of those SAE students pic.twitter.com/Caq3YNJq0l

— fee (@menifee901) March 11, 2015

Something about the cup has resonated. Since it was posted three days ago, it has racked up more than 19,000 retweets and 12,000 faves. The tweet also made its way onto Instagram, with supporters regramming the picture.

@menifee901, or "fee," describes himself as "just an ordinary guy" who works as a barber. The giant cup was purchased at a local thrift store, he told Motherboard in an email, and that tweet was its social media debut.

"I've gotten all kinda responses. Some funny, some offensive. My favorite is usually the 'Man, the mug is huge!'" he said.  For the most part though, people just agree that the situation is unfortunate. I think in today's generation, social media is our form of the news. It brings attention to issues that we know about, but dont take the time to reflect on.

Since then, fee has tweeted a series of photos juxtaposing the oversize cup with commentary.

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"Screamin 'Black Lives Matter' get u tear gas, singing 'There will never be a nigger at SAE' Get you police protection," he tweeted, holding the cup from a different angle (3,061 retweets, 2,381 faves).

Screamin "Black Lives Matter" get u tear gas, singing "There will never be a nigger at SAE" Get you police protection pic.twitter.com/Ff14goVChc

— fee (@menifee901) March 11, 2015

The gag is fee's version of the "But That's None of My Business" meme with Kermit the Frog, which Know Your Meme describes as a "sarcastic expression used as a postscript to an insult or disrespectful remark said towards a specific individual or group."

The cup is comically large but the subject matter is dark. Fee's tweet highlighted the scrutiny black victims received after recent police shootings, versus the delay in getting the expelled students' names (they've now both been identified in the media). The New York Times described 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, as "no angel" in his obituary, a phrase many interpreted as unwarranted and prejudicial. (The story's author and the paper's ombudsman later said they regretted the word choice.)

@menifee901 you famous bro lol people using your picture online and everything now for meems pic.twitter.com/55KrAiTaIl

— K. Stokes (@DangerRossss) March 11, 2015

Fee said he still feels like the SAE students were treated too kindly, and will be able to return to their normal lives in two to three years. " I think these social media outlets show anger from those hurt by those events and ignorance from those who agree with them," he said.

The cup is still making the rounds on social media. Does it make fee feel like a meme? "No," he said. "More like a message."

Adrianne Jeffries contributed to this story.