PROFESSOR DEFIES RACISM
Activist says she won’t be intimidated by threatening social media posts
APrescott College professor and Black Lives Matter co-founder says she won’t be intimidated or deterred after being targeted by racist Facebook posts saying that “her kind” weren’t welcome in the community. ● “Everyday folks in our movement receive death threats,” Patrisse Cullors said in a post on Instagram. “In ... 24-48 hours multiple people in Chino Valley, Arizona said terrible things about me, but one person specifically called to hang me.” ● A Facebook post apparently surfaced on July 8 on a page belonging to a local artist named Donna Carver. ● Reached on her cellphone last week, Carver hung up on a reporter. She did not return multiple calls, texts or emails seeking comment. The post said: “This is the WRONG PERSON for a COLLEGE IN PRESCOTT
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SEND HER BACK TO CALIFORNIA.”
Cullors, an artist, author and activist who lives in Los Angeles full time, was hired to develop an online Masters of Fine Arts program and was named director last year. She does not spend time on the physical campus of Prescott College, a small private college that promotes “liberal arts, the environment and social justice.”
One of the comments on the post, which appeared on the Chino Valley community page, said, “Get the rope, and everyone involved gets it too.”
The post was made under the name of local businessman Sam Keller, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment last week.
In her Instagram post, Cullors noted that invoking the imagery of lynching in Black communities has a long history that evokes “terror, torture and sadism.”
The racist post drew a strong condemnation from Prescott College President John Flicker, who said he supported not only Cullors, but Black Lives Matter.
“We strongly support Patrisse’s academic freedom as a member of our faculty and her right of free speech as a citizen,” he said.
“These racist messages are unacceptable and do not represent the values of our community, and we are grateful for the growing number of messages we are receiving supporting Patrisse and her work,” he said.
Professor emeritus Joanie Clingan praised Cullors’ work at the college, as well as her activism. Clingan said the racist posts were disturbing but not surprising.
“We do have social justice programs, and this has been a big focus of the college forever,” she said.
Topic raised at Oath Keepers meeting
Prescott, Arizona’s original territorial capital, is a politically conservative community. It is overwhelmingly white — 92% according to the latest U.S. census figures — and older, with more than one-third of its residents over age 65.
Clingan, who has been affiliated with the college for more than 20 years, said she has observed currents of racism.
Two years ago, former state Rep. David Stringer, of Prescott, refused to step down after he was recorded making a racist statement. One of his defenders wrote a letter to the NAACP that was filled with racist language, including the N-word. Stringer resigned last year in the face of an ethics investigation into allegations of child molestation in his past.
“What’s fascinating about it is people are so crazy racist that they don’t even look at the details,” Clingan said. “I don’t even know if she’s (Cullors) actually ever been to Prescott, and yet the comments are like, ‘What are they doing to our children?’”
On July 11, Cullors was the topic of discussion at a meeting of the Yavapai County Oath Keepers that featured former Prescott Mayor Harry Oberg, who is running for a seat on the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, according to the organization’s Facebook page.
“Did you know Prescott College has appointed a ‘well trained Marxist’ from California, the founder of Black Lives Matter, to teach our Prescott students?” the post reads. “And that person brought a team of others from California, like a Marxist task force! Our guest has asked to discuss this with our group, and asks for your help to determine what can be done to reverse this decision. Bring your ideas, and lots of friends.”
James Arroyo, an official with the Yavapai Oath Keepers, said the organization hosted the discussion at the request of a guest who had asked to speak to the group because he had “legitimate” concerns about Black Lives Matter.
The Oath Keepers is a national organization made up of active and former military members and public safety officers who consider themselves to be “guardians of the republic.” The oath refers to their vow to defend the U.S. Constitution. The organization is considered to be a far right-wing extremist group with anti-government views, although members dispute that characterization by stating that many members are employed by government agencies.
Arroyo declined to name the guest but said his presentation was not linked to Oberg’s.
“He was just a concerned citizen who had this information on Black Lives Matter, and we of course were very interested in what he had to say from a security standpoint for our community,” Arroyo said.
Cullors’ appointment had started “a crapstorm in our area, and a lot of people are not real happy over the whole BLM college professor issue,” he said.
“This is an extremely conservative area. Because of BLM’s reputation, they’re not unknown for burning your city to the ground if they don’t get their way. People up here in Prescott are very concerned about that because we’re in a very high fire risk. One spark and the entire town can go up.”
Arroyo said he tries to stay off social media and had not seen the racist Facebook posts attacking Cullors.
Prescott police Lt. John Brambila said July 13 that the department was aware of the Facebook posts and the case was being monitored by the department’s threat liaison officers.
He added that while “we found the posts very concerning,” the posts were apparently made outside of Prescott, on the Chino Valley community page, so “no crime occurred within the Prescott city limits.”
He referred questions to the Chino Valley Police Department. A spokesperson there said the matter was being handled by the Yavapai County Sheriff ’s Office.
The Yavapai County Sheriff ’s Office’s public information officer, Dwight Develyn, said, however, he was not aware of an investigation into the case.
Mountain Artists Guild weighs in
The woman who apparently posted the comments about Cullors, Donna Carver, is a longtime Prescott artist and is a member of the Mountain Artists Guild.
According to the artist statement on her website, she was raised in New England.
“My creative soul has always been rejuvenated by the strength and energy of the Coastal Waters,” her statement reads. “It has been my inspiration for my works of art. Other subjects which capture my creative spirit include boats, rivers and hillsides from heartwarming travel experiences throughout the United
Kingdom and Western Europe. The other area which touches my soul is anything Asian.”
Dawn Zintel, the president of the Mountain Artists Guild in Prescott, said she’s heard from a number of members who were upset by Carver’s post.
“We found out from the public ... and were quite shocked,” she said.
“We have very clear values about inclusivity. We’re doing our best to deal with the issue, reinforcing our values ... We’ve reached out to the community at large to say this not who we are.”
Zintel said she had spoken with Carver, who was upset about bringing unwanted attention to the guild.
“She is very well known here in the art world,” Zintel said. “She was also fearful because she’s been threatened.”
Zintel said the guild was reaching out to the college and to Cullors to offer support.
‘I won’t let white racists stop me’
Cullors, meanwhile, said in her Instagram post that while she took the post seriously, she won’t be taking any special precautions.
“I don’t take death threats lightly, I’m also not stopping my life due to death threats,” Cullors said.
Cullors, a self-described Marxist, is a Fulbright Scholar who completed her MFA work at the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Art and Design in May 2019.
She has been the subject of a number of articles in national publications. Her thesis was a performance, “Respite, Reprieve, and Healing: An Evening of Cleansing,” and was covered by the Los Angeles Times. The event “explored themes such as exhaustion, restoration, and queer world building through ritual Black hair washing and procession movements.”
She also is the co-author of “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.”
Her biography states that Cullors has been active in criminal justice reform efforts and led the Reform LA Jails’ “Yes on R” campaign, a ballot initiative that passed by a large margin in March.
In her Instagram post, she said her work at Prescott College is important to her.
“My students are incredible and talented and brilliant,” she said. “I won’t let white racists stop me from showing up for Black freedom. That ain’t gonna happen.”