Irami Osei-Frimpong, a philosophy PhD student and teaching assistant at the University of Georgia said “we can talk about voter suppression. We can talk about ID laws. But all of this begins and ends with the fact that we make crappy White people. So if we are serious, we have to dismantle the institutions that make crappy white people. Their churches, their schools, their families,” according to Campus Reform.
How are you going to “dismantle” white people’s churches, schools, and families, Irami? That sounds pretty insidious to me. You know, while they tend not to have the most luck getting jobs, I thought philosophy scholars were at least deep, nuanced thinkers. But Irami seems more inclined to think in terms of shallow and untrue generalizations.
He said “So, Georgia, are we finished with the illusion that White Georgians don’t vote to protect the perks of White Supremacy?” “Democrats need to go to war on the White electorate,” and “Respectability Democrats, Black and White, are worthless.”
“Go to war on the white electorate”…why are calls for a race war completely OK if they come from a certain side of the spectrum? And “respectability Democrats”…hmmmm…something tells me Irami isn’t the biggest fan of civility. I wonder if he’s taken a trip to the DC area recently to harass Ted Cruz during dinner or knock on Tucker Carlson’s door.
Irami’s previously said “there is a way in which White people in the South learn manners as a series of behaviors the way autistic kids learn to read social cues for behaviors. Except since these guys and gals aren’t autistic, I just feel like I’m around a bunch of sociopaths.”
Wow, yeah, if you’re a white southerner with a knack for philosophy, you might not want to take a class at the University of Georgia.
Irami Osei-Frimpong is a bit of a fan favorite here on Campus Unmasked. We’ve done stories on his remarks before. When the midterm elections didn’t go his way, Irami said “we have to dismantle the institutions that make crappy white people: their churches, their schools, their families.” That was a Facebook post, but don’t worry, his Twitter followers weren’t left hanging. A couple months later, Irami tweeted “Fighting White people is a skill. Really, it’s one reason I’m in support of integrated schools. You have to get used to fighting White people.” He then quoted a psychologist who said “Blacks kill Blacks because they have never been trained to kill Whites.”
But those remarks and the “some white people may have to die” one weren’t even the stated reason why the TA got a disciplinary hearing. When he applied to attend UGA, Irami allegedly deliberately left out his previous attendance at the University of Chicago, as well as a 2011 trespassing arrest. But the UGA panel ended up concluding that Irami hadn’t lied or omitted important facts, according to Campus Reform.
And that strikes me as kind of odd because there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of gray in that situation. I mean, it’s pretty black and white. Either he did disclose that information, or he didn’t. Why would he be accused of doing something like that unless there was pretty concrete, conclusive evidence?
Irami, of course, thinks the hearing was really a veiled attempt to get back at him for those rather racially-charged remarks he made. He said “”It strikes me that either each one of these people is very bad at his/her job– while fleecing taxpayer dollars– or their job was to hassle me and send a message about how the University Administration retaliates against political speech.”
And this is the one time I’ll side with the TA. I do think this hearing was more heavily motivated by Irami’s comments than info on his application, especially because UGA was getting pressure from donors. As for Irami, well, he’s back to his old business. On Thursday, he justified his “some white people may have to die for black communities to be made whole” comment by comparing whites to Nazis and blacks to Jews.
At the University of Georgia, this is the academic acumen, thisis the top-tier talent of the person who’s presumably grading papers.
University of Georgia TA Irami Osei-Frimpong said “some white people may have to die for black communities to be made whole in this struggle to advance to freedom” on Facebook and tweeted “fighting White people is a skill. Really, it’s one reason I’m in support of integrated schools. You have to get used to fighting White people.” Irami then quoted a psychologist who said “Blacks kill Blacks because they have never been trained to kill Whites,” in that tweet.
That tweet has since been deleted. But Irami didn’t entirely back down during an interview on WGAU with host Tim Bryant, according to Campus Reform. The TA suggested that violence is sometimes acceptable against “oppressors.”
He also claimed that violence is acceptable if shame doesn’t work. The TA uses the example of lynching, claiming that mobs can’t be won over with words. And it’s true that we use the threat of state violence as a means of dissuading crime. But here’s the thing: Irami conflates state violence and extrajudicial violence when it’s convenient for him, citing UGA’s ROTC program as an example of “violence.”
The University of Georgia originally said that Irami had made his social media remarks in a personal capacity and not as part of his job, but announced on Sunday that it was looking into options it can legally take under the First Amendment. Something tells me the reaction would be just a bit stronger if the races were flip-flopped and this were a white TA making anti-black remarks.
University of Georgia TA Irami Osei-Frimpong recently tweeted “Fighting White people is a skill,” reported Campus Reform. He went on to quote clinical psychologist Bobby Wright, who said “Blacks kill Blacks because they have never been trained to kill Whites.”
OK, so this guy could be the most racist person in the world, but he’s an academic, so you would think he’d have at least a bit of discretion and common sense not to post that. Then, last week, Irami threw himself into a Facebook discussion, saying “Some White people may have to die for Black communities to be made whole in this struggle to advance to freedom.”
Anti-white remarks have gotten Irami banned from Facebook more than just once. The UGA TA has previously referred to southern whites as “sociopaths” and “autistic kids” and Facebook suspended him after he said “We can talk about voter suppression. We can talk about ID laws. But all of this begins and ends with the fact that we make crappy White people. So if we are serious, we have to dismantle the institutions that make crappy white people. Their churches, their schools, their families.”
“Dismantle.” Something tells me that won’t be too peaceful. But speaking of schools, the University of Georgia hasn’t seem to have been all too worried about Irami. The school has distinguished multiple times between Irami’s job as a TA and views made in his personal capacity.
However, Sunday night, after some threats to its donations, UGA said “Racism has no place on our campus” and the school’s checking what actions it can “legally consider in accordance with the First Amendment.” At a certain point, Irami’s job as a TA and his personal views may very well come together and I wouldn’t be too shocked to learn that white kids aren’t very comfortable in this dude’s courses.
