An author, speaker and professor at Morgan State University and Howard University is facing a brutal onslaught online from the MAGA sphere after posting a statement about the violent threats she received after right-wing influencer and political extremist Charlie Kirk added her to his so-called “Professor Watchlist,” also known as his “digital hit list,” last year.
Stacey Patton’s post comes just days after Kirk was gunned down at a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday as he discussed mass shootings in the U.S.
“I am on Charlie Kirk’s hit list,” Patton wrote to her more than 200,000 Facebook followers.
“His so-called ‘Professor Watchlist,’ run under the umbrella of Turning Point USA, is nothing more than a digital hit list for academics who dare to speak truth to power. I landed there in 2024 after writing commentary that inflamed the MAGA faithful. And once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life,” she continued.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA, a right-wing youth organization and nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school and college campuses. Although branded as a group that supports “patriotism” and “freedom,” it has a record of rhetoric and alliances that align with white supremacists and Christian nationalist ideologies.
Something that’s apparent in the abuse Patton and many other educators have endured over the years at the hands of Turning Point and the MAGA faithful, if they were labeled by Kirk and his followers as advancing “leftist propaganda.”
“For weeks, my inbox and voicemail were deluged. Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘bitch,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence,” Patton described.
“They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired,” Patton said. “The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.”
“And I am not unique,” she added.
She said, “Kirk’s Watchlist has terrorized legions of professors across this country. Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism, suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse.”
Patton said the death threat and threats to their jobs forced many to leave academia altogether.
“That is the culture of violence Charlie Kirk built. He normalized violence. He curated it, monetized it, and sicced it on anyone who dared to puncture his movement’s lies,” she continued.
Patton questioned the bipartisan outpouring of grief after Kirk was assassinated.
“But the truth is that Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorizing educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear!”
“And now the same violence he unleashed on others has come full circle.”
“Kirk spent years demonizing LGBTQ people, mocking gun survivors, spewing racism about Black folks, and pushing policies that literally shorten lives,” Patton wrote. “It is so revolting to watch a bipartisan wave of grief sweep over this hateful racist as if he was a neutral community servant.”
The MAGA maniacs on social media couldn’t take it and stepped up where Kirk and his followers left off, spewing out the worst vitriol against Patton imaginable.
“She has no business teaching anyone. Period. Disgusting. Vile. Liar. No consideration for the life of the man or his wife and kids left without him,” this X user posted.
Another whined, “Imagine being so utterly useless that you mock the assassination of a man who, through sheer will and faith in Christ, reshaped American politics. These are weak people with weak minds saying weak things.”
“I didn’t realize that she teaches at a HBCU. She is truly vile and produces hatred in blacks against whites. She is a top notch racist,” X user Kay Lynn proclaimed.
Plenty of people countered MAGA’s rhetoric, too.
“Unfortunately for you people some people don’t humanize racists and Nazis. No amount of cancel culture…gaslighting bullsh-t will change that. Kirk was a horrible human and people will stand strong in that truth,” X user Cloud countered.
“She is entitled to her opinions. I don’t think Kirk would want it any other way,” Filippo Valguarnera pointed out on X.
“She’s not wrong,” this X user stated.
