Captain's Quarters -

Has Kent State defended a history professor with ties to the Klan and a website calling for the murder of African-Americans? Mike Adams, a conservative college professor who defends free-speech rights for conservatives on college campuses, takes Kent State to task for continuing to employ a professor who allegedly ran a Klan website called Kill The Negroes:

Kent State University now has another problem on its hands. A member of the Ku Klux Klan who just recently was found operating a hate website has now been identified as a history professor at Kent State. The site has been closed but the controversy still looms because of some comments the professor has posted on blogs under the name “Lover of Anglos” while using his Kent State email address. ...

And, finally, here is what a Kent State spokesperson had to say about Piner:

“Julius Piner was not actually linked to the site, ‘Kill the Negroes,’ nor did he use any university resources when he was not operating it. Furthermore, there is no evidence that he ever advocated killing Negroes in his class lectures. We all have to remember that academic freedom is an important part of university life, even when we disagree with the views being expressed.”

Of course, many disagree with Kent State’s defense of Piner. Some of the most compelling reasons follow:

1. The “Kill the Negroes” site contained essays calling for the cleansing and purification of society via the mass murder of blacks.

2. Piner distributed videos on the website showing the actual lynching of blacks.

3. Piner circulated instructions on how to bomb black churches in the South.

4. Piner circulated a “battle dispatch” to give people specific information on America’s most “notorious” black churches.

Adams does not include links to media reports on Piner's involvement in the Klan or with the website, which could be helpful for people trying to get to the bottom of the story. If Piner did what Adams alleges, then Kent State -- a univerity run by the state of Ohio -- has some explaining to do. From the scant evidence supplied by Adams, I'm not even sure the situation exists.

The government should not be in the business of oppressing speech. However, incitement to murder does not have First Amendment protection -- and besides, that has no bearing on employment decisions. If Piner did what Adams alleges, then he has little credibility as a history professor. As Betsy Newmark asks, what kind of history would Piner teach his students about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow?

However, that's a big if until Adams can come up with more independent evidence than he gives in his column. A Google on "Julius Piner" comes up completely empty. It comes up with nothing at the Cleveland Plain Dealer too, which makes me very suspicious about the controversy. A Klansman teaching history at Kent State while operating a website called Kill The Negroes would, I'm certain, garner just a little media attention in Ohio and elsewhere. Either Adams has the scoop of the month, or this story is extremely suspect. (via Memeorandum)

UPDATE: Or, possibly, a satire? That makes more sense, and it references Julio Pino, which Adams has covered in the past. I missed that.

UPDATE II: I updated the title of the post to answer my own question. Once you read Adams' posts on Pino, it makes this a pretty good satire, and highly effective.