Brittney Cooper's Truth-Telling Is Too Much For The Cowardly Right-Wing Mob

Dr. Brittney Cooper, a professor at Rutgers University, has been under attack by the right-wing ecosystem in the past month for her remarks on the corrosive power of white supremacy and the need to eradicate it.

Cooper is one of Americas leading academics on race and gender, and she represents a younger generation of Black academics who speak truth to power beyond the ivy walls, without the usual social niceties that mute the message. She recognizes that a system of white supremacy and misogyny wants to destroy her, destroy Black people, and destroy Black women, and she is not vague in talking about its strategy and tactics.

When Cooper appeared on the Root Institute, a series of conversations hosted by The Roots Michael Harriot, the discussion centered on the topic of critical race theory , the graduate-level framework that right-wing mobs now pretend is being taught to preschool students to make white kids feel bad about themselves. White people are invested in their possession of power, Cooper said, and it corrupts and terrifies them when Black people obtain some of that power in a pluralistic, more diverse society.

In the conversation, Harriot presents Cooper with two options: White people either give up their privilege, or they hold on to it. If those are the options, then what are Black people to do with the concept of white supremacy and the power attached to it?

There is no answer that is sufficient, Cooper replied. The thing I want to say is that weve got to take these muthafuckas out. But we cant say that. I dont believe in a project of violence. I truly dont. Because in the end, our souls suffer from that.

Weve got to take these muthafuckas out the right-wing media ecosystem seized on the soundbite. They had what they needed to activate the customary tsunami of faux outrage. The mob follows the same strategy every time.

Welp. In classic right wing media ecosystem fashion, the death threats have begun. As I said on my IG, white supremacy is a violent project that attempts to silence those of us who call it out.

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Welp. In classic right wing media ecosystem fashion, the death threats have begun. As I said on my IG, white supremacy is a violent project that attempts to silence those of us who call it out.
Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) October 28, 2021

Phase one is the Pretend Cycle: Generate misinformation, partial and out-of-context quotes, and outright lies to twist the narrative into whatever fits their agenda. Then feign ignorance at having done all of the above.

Phase two: Wash the lies through conservative Big Media, your Fox News or New York Posts, where they gain even more traction. Reactionary takes amplify the voices of ignorant viewers who arent in search of the truth.

Phase three: the Outrage Cycle, where ordinary people take it into their own hands to join the mob as a call to action. Harassment on social media. Threats to the targets livelihood. Make her feel isolated.

The goal is to create an atmosphere of intimidation that not only marginalizes and silences the target, but dissuades others from speaking up, because they dont want the spotlight switched to them.