Mizzou student Jasmine Wells allegedly was on the receiving end of Twitter hate or scorn after she decided to #standwithJefferson.
University of Missouri student activists want school officials to remove the Thomas Jefferson statue located on the east side of the Francis Quadrangle because Jefferson was a slaveholder, and according to them, a rapist.
In a demonstration of their Jefferson animus last month, Mizzou students left anti-Jefferson sticky notes all over the statue, which was originally gifted to the school in 2001 by the Jefferson Club, an alumni fundraising group for Mizzou.
The Columbia campus itself has been the scene of nationally covered protests by the Concerned Students 1950 group against racial incidents and discrimination at the school, which culminated in the resignation of the president along with other measures, such as mandatory diversity training for all freshman starting in the fall 2016.
Invoked by a Mizzou student several months ago who was apparently inspired by the taking down of the Jefferson Davis status at the University of Texas-Austin campus, a Change.org petition ,which has 134 supporters at this writing, detailed the basis for the removal of the Thomas Jefferson statue from the Mizzou campus grounds.
“…Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers who preached ‘I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man’ (Wilbur, 1962, p. 7) and that all men created equal, but possessed slaves up until his death July 4, 1862. This was a man that urged freedom for all and TALKED about the abolition of slavery, but never practiced democracy a day in his life. Even after his death the slaves he owned were restricted of their God given liberty…Thomas Jefferson’s statue sends a clear nonverbal message that his values and beliefs are supported by the University of Missouri. Jefferson’s statue perpetuates a sexist-racist atmosphere that continues to reside on campus…”
College Republicans such as Jasmine Wells subsequently staged a competing rally in support of the Declaration of Independence author and third U.S. president, which prompted a backlash on social media.
Mizzou was the first public university west of the Mississippi River and the first public university established in the territory included in Jefferson’s million-square-mile Louisiana Purchase from France. Jefferson also founded the University of Virginia.
The Mizzou counter-protest consisted of draping the statue in an American flag and seeking signatures from fellows students on a pro-Jefferson statue petition. Apparently, the conservative activists managed more signatures than their progressive counterparts.
In a video clip from Gateway Pundit , Jasmine Wells discussed the online repercussions of her involvement in the pro-Jefferson group.
“I find it very, very hypocritical that they are speaking of racism on campus…but they are making the same racist comments to me….I did not attack them, physically, mentally…but they were racist to me. I feel like the campus doesn’t recognize that; I was not contacted by the chancellor; I was not contacted by anyone on campus to see if I was okay. It’s just very frustrating because to see these people walk around and having this movement where they are saying our campus is racist is just very hypocritical.”
Head to Speakers Circle to sign a petition to keep the Thomas Jefferson statue on campus! #StandWithJefferson ?? pic.twitter.com/E95IDbo9HN
— Mizzou College Republicans (@MizzouCRs) October 20, 2015
“My political beliefs should not be determined by my race, as was suggested by the tweets received today,” Wells similarly told Campus Reform last month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszTFzGWWhg
In a related development, a student organization at Princeton is demanding that the name and images of U.S. and Princeton President Woodrow Wilson be removed from the campus because of his racist legacy. The school’s board of trustees is embarking on a study of what changes may need to be made with regard to the Wilson controversy.
According to the president of another conservative group on the Mizzou campus, rewriting history in the name of political correctness as it relates to the Jefferson statue is an undesirable approach. “To begin, we find it fallacious to require that all historical figures to be judged by contemporary standards. By this we mean that the fact that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves does not discredit him as an advocate for liberty in early America,” The College Fix reported .
[Photo via Twitter ]