This is not the first time Trinity College Prof. Johnny Eric Williams has given his employer a black eye. In 2017, Williams, who is black, was placed on leave after he wrote, “Time to confront these inhuman white a**holes” on Twitter.
Last month, he vented his spleen on social media again, this time tweeting on Easter Sunday that “Whiteness is terrorism” and referring to Barack and Michelle Obama as “white kneegrows.”
But this time, Williams delivered a two-fer, tweeting a followup that read:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
All self-identified white people (no exceptions) are invested in and collude with systemic white racism/white supremacy.”
For some reason, the Hartford Courant, which broke the story, invited Williams via email to elaborate on his views, which he did, writing:
There are many socially defined black folks who have internalized whiteness — as a way and knowing and being in the world. They like others who believe themselves to be ‘white,’ act on these ideas in ways that create and sustain systemic white racism.
Such whiteness internalization lead folks like Candace Owens, Barry and Michelle Obama to engage in actions and policy creations that are existential threats to humanity, particularly the racial oppressed. Thus my post denotes the urgency of exposing these individual as enemies of humanity’s well-being.
Ah, that’s much better!
The prestigious university lost $200,000 in donations in reaction to Williams’s 2017 outburst, with sixteen incoming students also withdrawing their enrollment. It’s perhaps too early to know how much damage Trinity will sustain from this latest rant, but the university apparently has no intention of firing Williams. A spokesman is quoted as saying:
Yes, we know about the tweets by Professor Williams, which were made in the context of his academic scholarship on issues of race. A discussion of the tweets followed on a closed Facebook group of some Trinity alumni. In that thread, an alumnus reports having reached out to ask Professor Williams about the tweets. Professor Williams then shared a broader scholarly context for the statements, as well as some relevant publications on the concept of whiteness. The context provided by Professor Williams speaks for itself.
Tuition at Trinity is $56,380. When other expenses, such as room and board, books, and “required fees” are factored in, an education there runs $76,450 a year. Nearly 65% of undergraduates are white. That’s a lot of money to be called a racist based on the color of your skin.
