Johnny Eric Williams has been identified as the Trinity College sociology professor who controversially tweeted that “whiteness is terrorism” on Easter Sunday.
What Happened & Who Is Johnny Eric Williams?
In addition to his “whiteness is terrorism” comment, Williams also called former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama “white kneegrows.”
Furthermore, Williams also tweeted that “all self-identified white people (no exceptions) are invested in and collude with systemic white racism/white supremacy.”
Following intense social media backlash for his comments, Williams has since doubled down and attempted to rationalize his tweet by saying he was “referring to whiteness as an ideology.”
“I’m referring to whiteness as an ideology, which everyone in the United States is immersed in because we live in a white supremacy society,” Williams said.
“Because there are people walking around believing that they’re white and acting as if they’re white, when there’s just the human race,” he continued.
This is not the first time that Williams has been embroiled in controversy due to his racially-charged comments, as he was suspended from Trinity College back in July 2017 for tweeting “let them f*cking die” while discussing people who did not share his same views.
Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney said that the school lost over $200,000 in donations due to the 2017 controversy.
However, despite the controversial, money-costing comments, Williams was awarded tenure at Trinity College that same year. He has reportedly taught at Trinity College for over two decades.
Speaking to Newsweek, Trinity College President Berger-Sweeney said that the school “supports academic freedom, free expression, and inquiry.”
“When speech proves controversial, our responsibility as educators is to promote more debate and discussion, not less. Twitter is a challenging place for a thoughtful discourse, which is clear from this example,” Berger-Sweeney statement to Newsweek read.
Trinity College is a private liberal arts college located in Hartford, Connecticut, with about 2,300 students.
Professor Johnny Eric Williams has since made his Twitter account private.
