We Stand in Solidarity with Professor Johnny Williams.
Fearing for his safety and that of his family, a friend and colleague, Professor Johnny Williams of Trinity College, has gone into hiding far from Hartford, Connecticut, where Trinity is located.
He is publicly vilified. He has received several death threats, all because a conservative website, Campus Reform, that monitors activities on college campuses mischaracterized something he wrote on social media.
Reacting to yet another police murder of an innocent black person—the woman in Seattle—Williams wrote some harsh things on Facebook about white supremacy and white supremacists. Campus Reform suggested that Williams was instead writing that victims of the shootings at a Republican Congressional baseball practice in suburban Washington should have been left to die.
The Trinity College chapter of the American Association of University Professors issued a statement of support for Professor Williams that included the following:
“it is evidently clear to us that Johnny is not calling for violence against any person, but rather using social media as a platform to engage, discuss and debate his critique of structure of racist oppression in America…[It is]important to remember that there is currently an organized effort to intimidate academics and especially those who speak out about issues of race and white supremacy, as Johnny did. … We should not entertain the positions of those who seek to target, distort, intimidate, and punish an individual based on a (mis)reading of a few posts.”
There is more information in the petition at the URL below. This petition was started by a student at Trinity College. In addition to sending an individual letter, I have signed this petition as has over 1,000 others. If you are so inclined, please sign it.
https://www.change.org/p/we-stand-in-solidarity-with-professor-johnny-williams-of-trinity-college?recruiter=529417802&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium= facebook&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_content=nafta_share_post_title_en_3%3AFB_share_copy_3