The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff, Wire Reports
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 03:52 PM
Police Union Leaders Outraged At Professor Who Tweeted "It's A Privilege To Teach Future Dead Cops"
Outraged New York police union leaders
are calling for the firing of a John Jay College professor and avowed
Antifa leader after he tweeted that it "is a privilege to teach future
dead cops.”
Michael Issacson, an adjunct-professor at the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, and known Antifa leader, tweeted Aug. 23, “Some of
y’all might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teacher at John Jay
College but I think it’s a privilege to teach future dead cops.”
The tweet gained traction after Issacson appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker
Carlson Tonight” show Thursday night, according to the New York Daily
News. The appearance prompted online sleuths to go through Issacson's
past tweets, exposing the offending missive.
Since then, officials from NYPD unions
have expressed their abhorrence to the comments.
“Michael Issacson harbors total disdain for the active and future police
officers that he teachers at John Jay College,” Patrick Lynch, president
of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said in a press release on
Friday. “Recent media reports have revealed Mr. Issacson’s disgusting
anti-police attitudes and his gleeful embrace of political violence,
including violence against police officers, as expressed in his own
social media postings.”
Detectives’ Endowment Association Michael Palladino said, “I don’t know
the professor but based on his tweet he strikes me as a man of ignorance
and arrogance with hate in his heart,” the New York Daily News reported.
TUCKER TO PRO-ANTIFA PROFESSOR: DO YOU TEACH STUDENTS THAT 1ST AMENDMENT
RIGHTS DON’T APPLY?
And Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association
said, “This message is an abdication of the professor’s responsibility
as a civilized human being and disgusting coming from a representative
of the teaching profession,” according to reports.
The New York Daily News reached out to Issacson Friday after the massive
response, in which he defended but seemed unfazed by the outcry.
“Oh, that s---? Everybody dies,” Issacson said.
“I was talking about police as an agent of control that is actually in
less control of the public than it’s supposed to be,” he said. “I don’t
have a problem with individual police officers – I mean, I teach them –
but I don’t like policing as an institution. Police officers are agents
of that institution.”
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is part of the City University
of New York school system and is widely known in the area for its high
level of students who later become police officers.
A statement on the matter was released Friday by John Jay College's
president, Karol V. Mason.
"I want to state clearly that I was shocked by these statements. They
are abhorrent. This adjunct expressed personal views that are not
consistent with our college's well known and firm values and
principles," Mason said. "I am appalled that anyone associated with John
Jay, with our proud history of supporting law enforcement authorities,
would suggest that violence against police is ever acceptable."
"I join with the many students, faculty, alumni and other members of our
community in condemning these statements," he said.
Additionally, the chancellor of the City University of New York, James
Milliken released a statement, declaring Issacson's comments as
"abhorrent, violating not only our values supporting respectful
discourse at this university, but also personal standards of decency."
"We will always stand up for freedom of speech and the open exchange of
sometimes conflicting or offensive ideas, but we will also condemn
statements we deem hateful, discriminatory and harmful to our
community," Milliken said.