KU student body president says ‘death to America.’ Might such rhetoric accomplish that?
Condemnation was swift and torrential, but consequences are unlikely, for the University of Kansas student body president who retweeted Sept. 3, “happy friday everybody. death to America.”
Niya McAdoo’s bizarre retweet, from a Twitter account called @comradeSYX, brought a perfect storm of outrage not just to her, but to KU. “Donors, Alumni Enraged by University of Kansas Student Government’s ‘Death to America’ Message,” read the headline at national columnist Todd Starnes’ article on the episode.
“It is ironic that she’s endorsing death to America,” says state Sen. Kellie Warren, Republican of Leawood, “when America’s liberties are what give her the freedom of speech to say such outrageous things in the first place.” Warren called for civility at KU, and for students not to “elect student government leaders who further incite the very hatred and division they claim to oppose.”
“We are appalled and disappointed by the completely inappropriate, unprofessional use of the KU Student Body president’s and Student Senate’s public university-affiliated Twitter accounts,” the University of Kansas College Republicans said in a statement. “Their platform is meant to advocate for students, not serve as a vessel to voice their political opinions and opposition to the greatest country in the world.”
The group rightly called McAdoo’s retweet “unacceptable, tone-deaf and beyond disrespectful to the millions who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms,” adding that “the silence on this matter from the University of Kansas is deafening.”
In another tweet, McAdoo claimed her retweet of “death to america” was “unintentional,” but that “I still stand by my retweet regardless.”
It apparently wouldn’t be out of character for the student body president, either. “Please know that it is death to an America that was built on Indigenous genocide and the backs of Black slaves,” she subsequently wrote. In another defiant post, she retweeted from the popular rap artist @LilNasX, “nothing makes me happier than making people that hate me, hate me more. it’s my reason to breathe, my reason to exist, my first gift i open on christmas, my hug from a loved one, my cold soda on a hot summer day, everything i’ve ever wanted, and everything i’ll ever need.”
This, Jayhawk country, is your KU student body president.
As for KU, the provost’s office responded fecklessly to one concerned alum that, “the opinions in these tweets are protected by the First Amendment. Thus, there is nothing in the post that would allow for action by the university.” Still, the office says, “our Office of Student Affairs has discussed this matter with the Student Body President to ensure she understands the consequences of her tweets — specifically how these tweets might reflect on her and her fellow Student Senators, and how these tweets may impact how she is perceived by fellow students and classmates.”
Well, that much is certainly true.
So, the university may not be able to act due to the First Amendment — which I certainly understand, though I wonder what other forms of hatred the university would crack down on. But nothing prevents the university from publicly denouncing the tweet. Nor does it prevent others from acting and reacting to her rhetoric, in what the university calls its “marketplace of ideas.” In a marketplace, you get to pick and choose what you buy. A whole lot of folks aren’t buying this — or the fact that students have elected, and the university won’t denounce, a president who would express such hatred for our country.
Nor is Ms. McAdoo doing her cause, whatever it is, any favors. She has only confirmed in many minds the perception of far-left liberals and, specifically KU, as a breeding ground and safe haven for anti-American hatred. Indeed, the tweeter whose “death to America” broadside she amplified with her student-body megaphone later doubled down with a tweet saying, “once again, and i say without hesitation, death to america!”
The problem, at bottom, isn’t McAdoo’s tweets or her right to air them, though conservatives have been punished by Big Tech for doing less. The problem is that such a loathing for this country is rewarded with votes and prestigious offices and, in the case of anti-American athletes, with eyeballs and endorsements.
This kind of thing is absolutely tearing America apart.
Death to America? Be careful what you wish for. You just may get it.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "KU student body president says ‘death to America.’ Might such rhetoric accomplish that?."
