Black Newark Professor Fired After Fox News Show; Will Speak At Local Church

NEWARK, NJ — “Racism can’t be fought with more racism.” That’s the rationale that administrators at a New Jersey community college are using to justify the firing of an adjunct teacher after her controversial appearance on the FOX News show Tucker Carlson Tonight earlier this month.

Although communications professor and Newark resident Lisa Durden didn’t identify herself as a teacher at the Essex County College during her appearance on the June 6 edition of the show, her race-related comments about a Black Lives Matter rally allegedly drew the ire of students, faculty and prospective students and their families, college administrators claim.

During her appearance, Durden expressed her support for a Black Lives Matter Memorial Day celebration in New York City which only invited African-American people.

“You white people are angry because you couldn't use your white privilege card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter, all-black Memorial Day Celebration,” Durden said, comparing the all-black invitation to married couples who choose not to invite children to their weddings.

“All the sudden, we have one day for black folks to focus on ourselves, but you’ve been having ‘white day’ forever,” Durden posited. “You don’t say the words anymore because you know it’s politically incorrect. But you’ve had an all-white Oscars, all these movies with all-white actors, all white TV shows with white casts over and over again.”

Durden plans to speak about the Tucker Carlson appearance and her subsequent firing at a People's Organization for Progress (POP) meeting on Thursday, June 29, at Abyssinia Baptist Church, 224 West Kinney Street in Newark, organizers told Patch.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Durden will speak around 7 p.m., a POP spokesman said.

Watch a clip from the June 6 show below. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here.

FIRED FOR ‘FREE SPEECH’

Durden told NJ.com that she was forced to cancel her classes and abruptly suspended two days after her appearance. Essex County College administrators confirmed that Durden was terminated following a six-day paid suspension in a statement on the college website.

Durden’s attorney Leslie Farber said that they are considering a lawsuit in reaction to the firing.

“I believe their first suspending and then firing her was directly because of her appearing on the Tucker Carlson TV show, and is a violation of her federal and state constitutional rights to free speech,” Farber told NJ.com.

Durden doesn’t stand alone in her claim of free speech rights. An online petition to have Durden reinstated has gathered 1,775 supporters since its launch, stating:

“Lisa Durden, producer, filmmaker, media commentator and professor, appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson on June 6… Carlson insulted her repeatedly (“demented, separatist, Nazi”) for defending the Black Lives Matter movement’s right to have black-only safe space event for Memorial Day.

“Less than 48 hours later, Professor Durden was summarily suspended by Essex County College (ECC), where she teaches media and effective speech. Without union representation at the meeting, ECC administrators told her that she was suspended because of her appearance on Fox News. She was told to leave the building and not return.

“Instead of defending Professor Durden’s right to free speech and congratulating her on standing up to racism and sexism, the administration at the predominantly black institution chose to effectively fire this accomplished media professional and educator."

Comments in support of Durden included:

• “I cannot understand or stand by when someone is fired for her freedom of speech... Just because it may ‘threaten’ the comfort or universal freedom of white people does not make it threatening. This is part of the challenge to whiteness and white fragility that anti-racist work is all about.”
• “Does your college not take academic freedom seriously for its faculty? That's the message you appear to be sending.”
• “She didn't say anything vulgar or inappropriate, just stated an opinion on a racial issue.”
• “If Trump can be elected president with all of what he said, Dr. Durden wasn't half as bad as he. Give her damn job back.”

RACISM CAN’T BE FOUGHT WITH RACISM

Newly appointed Essex County College President Anthony Munroe defended the college’s termination of Durden, writing that “racism cannot be fought with more racism.”

According to Munroe, following the June 6 show, administrators were “immediately inundated with feedback from students, faculty and prospective students and their families expressing frustration, concern and even fear that the views expressed by a college employee - with influence over students - would negatively impact their experience on the campus.”

Munroe, a black male and former president of Malcolm X College in Chicago, said that the college “supports and affirms the right of free speech and independent views and expressions of those views for our faculty and staff,” but that his administration has a duty to set a strong example of tolerance as well.

Read his full statement about Durden’s dismissal here.

“Essex County College actively seeks to create an environment, which is welcoming to people of all backgrounds and abilities,” Munroe stated. “Consistent with this principle, we firmly reject and denounce any conduct that implies that all students are not welcome to participate in, or benefit from, our programs or activities on the basis of their race, color, orientation or national origin.”

An online petition titled “Ban Lisa Durden From FOX News Programming For Promoting Hate” has gathered 48 signatures as of Tuesday.

Comments included:

• “I really don't condone what she said. It’s racist, prejudiced, and lacks thought and context on a serious social issue.”
• “We do not need any more hate spread around in our country. Racist from any ethnic group should be taken off any news network.”
• “Racism is still racism no matter who is spewing it.”

Send local news tips and feedback to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo via YouTube, Roland Martin / NewsOne Now