Slavery And Pregnancy Blamed For Professor’s Attack On Pro-Life Activists

Mireille Miller-Young, the University of California professor of feminist studies who accosted a teenager holding a pro-life sign, changed her not guilty plea to one of no contest. Supporters of Miller-Young, often referred to as the “porn professor” due to the subject matter discussed in her classroom, are blaming slavery and pregnancy on the attack of the 16-year-old girl holding an anti-abortion sign on the Santa Barbara campus.

The 38-year-old University of California professor was three-months pregnant when she encountered the teenage girl holding the anti-abortion poster. Mireille Miller-Young has apologized for “some” of the actions which led to criminal charges being filed against her. The professor does not want to spend any time in jail for her actions but reportedly hopes that she will be given the opportunity to “make amends through community service.”

The so-called porn professor was scheduled to appear for sentencing on August 14, but the hearing was delayed. “If she appears smiling on camera, she is ‘wearing the mask,’ that is, she is hiding her actual state through a strategy of self-presentation that is a cultural legacy of slavery,” supporter and fellow feminist studies professor Eileen Boris said. “She was at the stage of a pregnancy when one is not fully one’s self fully, so the image of a severed fetus appeared threatening,” professor Boris added.

An excerpt from Mireille Miller-Young’s apology letter:

“I wish to apologize for my actions. The Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust group had a perfect right to come to UC Santa Barbara to express their views about women’s reproductive rights. As much as the images they displayed were offensive and distressing to my students, and to me, I had no right to take their poster or destroy it.”

The apology letter from the University of California professor does not mention the battery charge which resulted from accosting the Thrin Short, the teenage girl holding the pro-life poster. Joan Short, 21, a sister of the victim in the case, said, “I guess I would like to see her say to her students, ‘I did a really stupid thing. You shouldn’t follow my example.'”

In the viral video which captured the exchange between the 16-year-old girl and the professor, Ms. Miller-Young is shown saying, “I may be a thief, but you’re a terrorist.” The professor told the police that since she was pregnant, the abortion images on the poster “triggered” her response to the girl holding the sign.

History professor Paul Spikard said this of his co-worker’s arrest:

“[It has been] an energetic smear campaign that seems to have little to do with her person or her actions, and a great deal to do with fomenting racial hatred and rallying right-wing political statement. It would be tragic if Dr. Miller-Young were sentenced to jail time or mandatory anger management classes based on the press’ portrayal of her as an angry black woman.”

Dr. Spikard did not cite any news reports or share online media links to back up his claims of racism. Many of the posters who commented on the video of the professor accosting the anti-abortion activist did not even realize the attacker was black.

What do you think about the University of California professor attacking the pro-life teenager?

[Image Via: Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust]