Syracuse professor is accused of defending 9/11 with claim it was 'an attack on heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems' that 'many white Americans fight to protect'
A professor at Syracuse University has drawn strong reactions for a tweet calling the attacks on September 11, 2001 a strike against 'heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems'.
Jenn M. Jackson, an assistant professor of political science, made the remarks in a series of tweets on Friday, a day before the 20th anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,977 people.
'We have to be more honest about what 9/11 was and what it wasn't. It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity,' wrote Jackson, who uses they/them pronouns.
'It was an attack on the systems many white Americans fight to protect,' they added.
'It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity,' wrote Jackson of the attacks on September 11, 2001
Jackson and their literary agent did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com on Sunday night.
Jackson's tweets, which have since been set to private, came as the professor remarked on how they were 'really disturbed by how many white pundits and correspondents talk about' 9/11, according to the Daily Wire.
Jackson criticized the notion 'that 9/11 was the first time that Americans ever felt fear.'
'White Americans might not have really felt true fear before 9/11 because they never felt what it meant to be accessible, vulnerable, and on the receiving side of military violence at home. But, white Americans' experiences are not a stand-in for "America,"' they wrote.
'Plenty of us Americans know what it’s like to experience fear and we knew before 9/11. For a lot of us, we know fear *because* of other Americans,' Jackson continued.
The remarks drew strong reaction and mockery from critics, some of whom accused Jackson of sympathizing with or even endorsing the deadly attacks.
'Of course, because if Osama bin Laden was about anything, it was striking down heteropatriarchy…' tweeted journalist Matt Taibbi.
Television journalist Megyn Kelly responded with strong language, tweeting: 'As an S.U. poli-sci grad, I just wanted to say, Ms. Jackson, you can F right the hell off.'
'Wonder what @JennMJacksonPhD thinks about ISIS and Boko Haram’s atrocities in West Africa and the Sahel,' pondered Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies.
'Thank you Osama, the feminist,' another person tweeted.
Many of the angry reactions to Jackson's comments were too crude for publication.
Jackson's personal website describes the professor as 'a queer genderflux androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, a lover of all Black people, and an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University in the Department of Political Science.'
Jackson's personal website describes the professor as 'a queer genderflux androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, a lover of all Black people'
The Syracuse Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs lists Jackson's courses as Gender and Politics, Black Feminist Politics, Advanced Qualitative Methods, and Introduction to American National Government.
Jackson's out-of-office email response said that they are on research leave for the fall term, but will return to the classroom in Spring 2022.
Jackson also published a regular column for Teen Vogue, though the professor does not appear to have contributed to the publication since February.
The professor is also the author of the academic book Policing Blackness. Jackson's next book, Black Women Taught Us, is due to be published next year by Random House.
