Professor Daymon Johnson

They’re coming for you next: Though this story begins with an announced lawsuit by professor Daymon Johnson against Bakersfield College in California for repeatedly threatening him and his colleagues whenever they dared to write or say anything that dissents from the university’s decidedly Marxist and leftist ideology, this story really is about blacklisting and the desire of the academic left to silence all dissent, by any means necessary.

The left is made up of close-minded thugs and goons, and if you think I am overstating the case, then read the opening words from Johnson’s lawsuit [pdf], filed by the Institute for Free Speech and quoting John Corkins, one of the trustees of the Kern Community College Board of Trustees that controls Bakersfield:

“They’re in that five percent that we have to continue to cull. Got them in my livestock operation and that’s why we put a rope on some of them and take them to the slaughterhouse. That’s a fact of life with human nature and so forth, I don’t know how to say it any clearer.”

The five percent that Defendant John Corkins referred to are faculty of Bakersfield College. They must be slaughtered, so to speak, for transgressions including the writing of op-eds in the local newspaper, appearances on radio programs, and the failure to censor their colleagues’ Facebook posts, all in opposition to the school’s official ideology. The first “cullee,” Professor Matthew Garrett, has just been fired for these forms of pure political speech. [emphasis mine]

When Corkins made this ugly statement as board of trustees meeting, likening college professors with whom he disagrees to cattle that have to be taken to slaughter, one trustee, Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, “chuckled heartily at the suggestion. Others smiled.” No one objected to this vicious suggestion. [Watch the video here.]

As I said, thugs and goons, quite eager to commit genocide if they don’t get their way in all things.

The lawsuit describes in painful detail the effort at Bakersfield College to harass and destroy any dissenters, including firing a different professor, Matthew Garrett, for simply expressing his opinion, while accusing him of being a racist without any evidence.

Since Johnson had taken over some of Garrett’s responsibilities and had also publicly agreed with his political views, he was himself subsequently harassed and investigated by college officials and the Kern Community College District for simply expressing his opinions. Garrett had been faculty lead for the Renegade Institute for Liberty (RIFL), an approved faculty organization

…dedicated to the pursuit of free speech, open inquiry and critical thinking. RIFL aims to promote and preserve freedom of thought and intellectual literacy through the open discourse of diverse political ideas with an emphasis on American ideals and western historical values.

Pushing such ideals at Bakersfield was apparently impermissible. First Garrett was forced out, and when Johnson took over as faculty lead for RIFL he was then investigated as well. Though he was found completely innocent of any misconduct, the district still threatened him with further discipline should he express any forbidden opinions in the future. For this reason he found it necessary to sue.

Considering his experience of being investigated by Defendants over his Facebook posts, Defendants’ adoption of an official political ideology that he rejects, Defendants’ treatment of
his colleague and predecessor in the position of Faculty Lead for RIFL, and indeed, his
responsibility for some of the speech for which Professor Garrett was fired, Professor Johnson
refrains from expressing his political views and from freely participating in the intellectual life of
the college for fear that Defendants would investigate, discipline, and ultimately terminate his
employment on the basis of his viewpoints.

The lawsuit demands the college and district cease any effort to silence Johnson, as well as abandon the official racist Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive ideology that favors some races over others and demands that no one protest such policy.

Even if Johnson wins, it will change little. The dominant culture at these California schools brooks no dissent, and even if those in charge lose in court they will still make life hell for Johnson and anyone else who dares disagree with them. In fact, their future behavior will likely be a textbook example of blacklisting, teaming up silently to destroy their opponents by shunning and a denial of promotion or work, with the eventual goal of making it impossible for dissenters to work there. They will be, as Corkins advocated, “culled out”, come hell or high water.

Welcome to the left’s America, land of blacklists, routine slandering, and power politics. Free speech is no longer allowed, and if you try to exercise it you will be destroyed.