Tressie McMillan Cottom, an associate professor at UNC, expressed outrage after Sen. Ron Johnson expressed support for “citizen soldiers.” The tweet she responded to stated, “Sen. Ron Johnson just said he supports ‘citizen soldiers’ in Kenosha. Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered 2 people, is a citizen soldier. #CNNSOTU.” In a reply, Cottom said, “They have deputized all white people to murder us.”
They have deputized all white people to murder us. https://t.co/tnGRyHZn9y
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) August 31, 2020
Cottom then doubled down on her stance, saying “oh the racists are big mad about this one, I see,” in reference to her earlier tweet.
Cottoms describes herself on her website as supporting “radically progressive local candidates for public office, community bail funds, and removing memorials to oppressive racist fictions.”
Oh the racists are big mad about this one, I see. https://t.co/EPgrllbRsX
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) August 31, 2020
Now, the professor is hinting at abandoning her Twitter account following the extensive backlash, saying, “Whew. This is gonna be a doozy. They’ve sent them body snatchers. Ah well, if this account disappears you’ll know that I took it as a sign from god.”
Whew. This is gonna be a doozy. They’ve sent them body snatchers. Ah well, if this account disappears you’ll know that I took it as a sign from god. https://t.co/EPgrllbRsX
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) August 31, 2020
UNC has not yet commented on Cottoms’s statement. But the official university website speaks highly of Cottom, calling her “an award-winning author, professor, and sociologist” “whose work has earned national and international recognition for the urgency and depth of its incisive critical analysis of technology, higher education, class, race, and gender.”
The webpage also promotes Cottom’s Twitter account providing a direct link to it.
