This attempt to silence a professor (and one of my advisors!) for calling out racism and holding people accountable for injustice is appalling. It resembles the asymmetrical and scorched earth tactics of the GOP. It’s an abuse of power, self-aggrandizing, and wrong.
https://twitter.com/insurgent_prof/status/1333558882950590466
The great reporting by the @MSFreePress lays it all out. Dr. Thomas participated in the #ScholarStrike to raise awareness about racial injustice. The state auditor said the action ran afoul of an anti-labor law where any teacher who strikes can be fired. mississippifreepress.org/5913/auditor-s…
That law was passed after Mississippi teachers in 1985 went on strike for higher pay. They were successful, but the powers-that-be said “never again.” I mean...if we pay teachers their due, what’s next? Socialism?! The demise of the Republic itself?!? 😱
Now this professor becomes the scapegoat for everything that far-right officials in the state think is wrong with “librul” education. Meanwhile, his own school (and mine) remains passive when people send one of their own professors death threats. You can’t make this stuff up.
Anyway, you can say “That’s just Mississippi” all you want. But this state is a bellwether and a mirror. It puts in stark relief what has happened, is happening or will happen in the rest of the nation. What happens to folks here can darn sure happen to folks where you are.
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