UK University Defends Academic Who Said 'White Lives Don’t Matter'

Cambridge University has defended one its academics after she tweeted “white lives don’t matter“

Priyamvada Gopal, who teaches English at the University, tweeted: “I’ll say it again. White lives don’t matter. As white lives.” She then added: “Abolish whiteness.”

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The University issued a statement defending Gopal’s racist remark after she said she’d received numerous death threats following the launch of a petition to have her fired.

The University defends the right of its academics to express their own lawful opinions which others might find controversial and deplores in the strongest terms abuse and personal attacks. These attacks are totally unacceptable and must cease.
— Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) June 24, 2020

The petition to ‘Fire Cambridge Professor for Racism’ has garnered more than 16,000 signatures at the time of writing..

The organiser of the petition, Renee Myers from the US, said: “Allowing Ms Gopal to continue lecturing at Cambridge sets a precedent that this behavior [sic] is acceptable and welcome amongst teaching faculty. Racism cannot be tolerated.”

According to CambridgeshireLive the professor from India explained her tweets: “I was saying whiteness isn’t the reason lives should matter. Lives do matter, but not because they are white. I say the same thing about my own community.

“When I talk about abolishing whiteness, I talk about political practices and ideologies. Systems of oppression, whether white or brown, should be abolished.

“It’s about abolishing a race hierarchy where whites are at the top.”

Prof Gopal was temporarily suspended from Twitter under its ‘hateful content policy’ after the social media platform upheld several complaints made against her.

The ban has since been lifted.