This week, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, an Ohio State University history professor and the brother of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined the mantra of many on the left for citizens to rise up and fight the system “by any means necessary.” However, Jeffries added a menacing element in calling for citizens to emulate John Brown, who murdered white farmers who supported slavery. He is not the first academic to use Brown as a model for political action today.
In a social media post flagged by Libs of TikTok, Jeffries declared that “John Brown understood that the only way to free Americans from the scourge of white supremacy was to get rid of white supremacists by any means necessary. He was right then. He is right now.”
The posting was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled rationalization for political violence, a dangerous contribution to an age of rage marked by rising attacks, including assassinations.
Other academics have pushed Brown as a model for activists in fighting racism, oligarchy, and other ills in society.
Stacey Patton, professor of journalism at Howard University, previously pushed this model in a blog titled “John Brown Didn’t Ask Enslaved People How to Be A Good White Ally.” Patton scolded white liberals to stop asking how to be a better “ally” to minorities. She wrote:
“It’s a question that always lands heavy. Not because I doubt their sincerity, but because the question itself is still a form of protection that centers the asker’s confusion instead of the target’s danger. It’s a request to be taught, forgiven, and reassured, again and again. It’s another round of homework assigned to the wounded…It’s exhausting as hell because it’s still a form of emotional outsourcing.”
Brown is best known for his pivotal role in the period known as “Bleeding Kansas” and the infamous Pottawatomie massacre.
In 1856, he orchestrated the Pottawatomie massacre. He and fellow abolitionists dragged five Kansas settlers, at least three of whom were pro-slavery sympathizers, out of their homes and executed them. His own son, Salmon Brown, said that when his father and his brother heard about the caning of abolitionist Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks, they went “crazy, crazy.”
Brown was eventually captured after his raid on Harpers Ferry and hanged.
I understand that Brown is viewed as a figure who recognized that the scourge of slavery would only be excised from our nation by force. He is viewed as a catalyst of the Civil War by many. However, his murder and kidnapping of whites were efforts to use terror and vigilanteism to achieve the worthy goal of emancipation.
Frederick Douglas wrote beautifully about his divided emotions about Brown, crediting him with being “the thunder clap” that helped spark the struggle for freedom. He spent time with Brown who was a guest at his home and admired his convictions and passion. However, he was also a critic of the raid on Harper’s Ferry and argued for political, not violent, change. ( He wrote that “taking of Harpers Ferry was a measure never encouraged by my word or by my vote.”).
For his part, Abraham Lincoln denounced Brown as an insane zealot, adding that this “was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate.”
Lincoln notably compared Brown to “the many attempts, related in history, at the assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than his own execution.”
Patton (and apparently Jeffries) now suggest that Brown’s blood-soaked legacy may be worthy of replication. Patten heralded Brown, who “saw the horror for what it was and decided that ending this racist f*ckery mattered more than being understood.” What clearly makes Brown stand out for Patton is his violence: “So when white allies ask, ‘What can I do?’ here’s the answer: Be like John Brown. Ask yourself, what am I willing to burn so somebody else can breathe?”
She added, “If you don’t want to die like John Brown, fine. But understand that somebody always does.”
Now, Dr. Jeffries is picking up the same call to rally behind Brown’s legacy. Notably, Brown himself dismissed those who believed that real change could occur with a blood-soaked reckoning: “I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.”
According to his university bio, Jeffries teaches in areas such as “Power, Culture, and the State,” “the Black Power Movement,” and “Race, Ethnicity, and Nation.” He was featured by PBS as part of its series Black America Since MLK.
His better-known older brother, Hakeem, has notably been accused of fueling the rage in society, including posting images of himself brandishing a baseball bat. He has remained silent on his brother raising the specter of “Bloody Kansas” as a worthy inspiration for students and activists.
As many celebrate or rationalize the assassinations of figures such as Charlie Kirk and UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the effort to encourage others to embrace the legacy of John Brown is hardly a subtle message. Many will take it as another signal that violence is not just warranted but righteous.
Rage rhetoric has already taken hold of much of our politics and the most extreme candidates garner support from voters.
Democratic voters turned out for a candidate in Texas who has called for the imprisonment and even castration of “Zionist billionaires.”
In Maine, the Democratic candidate Graham Platner has called himself an “Antifa supersoldier,” referring to the most violent and anti-free speech group in the country.
Platner has channeled the most unhinged aspects of John Brown. Indeed, some of his statements are strikingly similar to Brown’s: “There are times in this world when, for the good of tolerance and humanity, you need to kill a motherf—er.” He added the Brownesque twist that “Sadly most people who are true believers in tolerance and humanity find that activity repulsive.”
In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I explore the rise of such radical voices calling for violent action in the context of our 250th anniversary. These “new Jacobins” are unleashing the same impulses that led to “Terror” in France as citizens threw off any restraints to vent their rage. They too dismissed notions of nonviolent political action. As Platner observed, “I suppose [tolerance] is morally good, but pragmatically a shortfall.”
Among the Jacobins, a lawyer stepped forward to advocate for the “pragmatic choice” of violence. His name was Robespierre, and he declared, “Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue.”
Ultimately, Robespierre himself would be guillotined like the tens of thousands of his victims. One of the few surviving central leaders after the French Revolution would offer a cautionary tale to those who seek to fuel such rage to achieve political power. French writer Jacques Mallet du Pan wrote in 1793 that “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
It’s all they have, nada, zero, full stop. Petulant children throwing a temper tantrum instead of a coherent review of their own actions.
Slavery is bad.
Murder is bad.
Calling for violence over . . . something, and then justifying it with references to slavery?
Not better.
Then there is this,
“Either MAGA extremists are gonna break the country or we are gonna break them,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said this month. “We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit.”
What does that even mean?
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/wkdas-electorate-frustrates-elite-ambitions-contempt-voter-rising-among-dems
Hocked up Jeffy and his equally asinine brother extoll violence and marxist revolution because they simply cant get what “they” want. Simple minded manipulative low brow hooligans is all they and their followers are.
Truly, the Dems are the Jacobins of 21st century America. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
“John Brown understood that . . .”
Behold the final horror of the Left’s tribalism: Rwandan-style ethnic genocide.
And these are the people crying racism at every opportunity.
Obviously John Brown was a violent zealot and his actions combined with the pro -slavery zealots eventually assured that we ended up with the bloodiest war in our history. Could we have ended slavery without the Civil War? I think yes. There was already the example of the United Kingdom ending slavery in their empire (for the most part) and totally reversing their course and setting up anti-slavery patrols along the African West Coast. So it could be done.
Brown’s violence hardened both sides and I feel made the Civil War more likely. When you kill people there is an obvious finality to that action and it cannot be undone.
The caning of Charles Sumner was violence but he was not killed and law enforcement could have handled it. Brown’s reaction and subsequent actions of violence and murder made further action by both sides irrevocable. Imagine, if you will, that Lincoln ascends to the Presidency without the Pottowatomie Masscre or the revolt ar Harpers Ferry. There was likely still a chance that the confederate states had not seceded by his inauguration and there was still time for negotiations and Lincoln was perfect for that scenario. But the killings by Brown likely convinced the South that this would no longer be covered by law enforcement and only organized state action and the military use of force was open to them. The South had its pro slavery zealots, no doubt, but there were large parts of the south that were anti slavery and pro union and anti secession. But the choice came down to fight your neighbors or fight the invaders from the north. Hard choice to make when most people had not traveled 50 miles from their home in their entire lives.
The Abolitionists had proceeded with the legal means and rightly so but John Brown took it out of their hands and got his war with horrendous cost.
Mr Jeffries and his brother are both still incapable of learning from other peoples mistakes as well as their own.
Could we have ended slavery without the Civil War? I think yes. Obviously you know nothing of American history of the early 1800’s.
You sure do write stupid shit old man.
Trump was right about everything. That’s why he’s in charge.
He told us the truth all the way back to Obama and beyond.
I appreciate any reference to the, under utilized French revolution of Robespierre. These people refuse to accept victories if stoking conflict will get them clicks, notoriety, a seat in congress or tenure at some University. We still have work to do in the service of equality for all – but I see more people of more backgrounds in more combinations, working and playing in every conceivable place – more often than ever in my lifetime. There are no places that aren’t integrated – including the NBA and NFL.
Dems can’t talk about their agenda, The public doesn’t want it. Can’t talk about their leader, there isn’t one they would want to boost.
Their rhetoric going after the other side in every way possible isn’t getting the job done…plan Z: Violence.
It’s the last thing their “centralized control” is good at.
Obviously you have not been reading your Fox news.
2026 is not the 1860’s. Communication and transportation are rapid and pervasive. Wheras Brown could slip away and hide out, that is less possible now. And Americans are far better armed and equipped today, especially on the Right.
All those idiot Jeffries brothers’ incitement would do is cause a rapid propagation of political violence. Anyone who wants that is certifiably nutz. Anyone who allows them to get away with it is weak. Just knock it off.
So Jeffries, the trade is one of ours for one hundred of yours. Your move, ***holes.
According to the ATF 700 million guns in circulation. Don’t start a race war. Black THUG Crime is out of control. It won’t take much. Walk it back now.
15-20 years ago the estimate was 400-700M. That’s a major uncertainty and today it can only be larger. Ammunition is essentially uncountable. Widespread political violence is good for nobody except psychopaths who think that they might seize power or wealth during the chaos.
Psychopaths.
For John Brown, the clock has stopped. Thanks to our terrible educational system, K-12 and college, hardly any American over thirty even knows who he was or what he did. He offers no lessons or only fictionalized, reinvented ones to bring a white guy into the struggle.
Sorry. I meant “under thirty.”
America is so racist that these two half-wits are a university professor and the House Majority leader. Yet here they are complaining about how unfair America is to Black people.
Do they think it’s South Africa?
2 halfwits make a full halfwit and look at what that whole wit is doing. You have no wit whatsoever.
Ah, the dimwit has awoken.
John Brown was tried and convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia and duly hanged as the only punishment allowed by the treason statute was death.
Hakeem has made an abrupt change in direction toward open warfare against his enemies, notably Trump. He seeks leadership in his party, and has found it in using the most extreme language among his ilk. Yet, it comes at a time when many Americans are growing sick of all the pointless rage and unending inefficacy. The clock is ticking down to mere seconds for Hakeem.
Funny stuff. You are willfully blind. Ever listen to Trump’s extreme language? True, Americans are sick of it all and you people here just keep pouring gas on the flames.
How true. All the while the people who f-ed up this country are sitting on the side lines fanning the flames of hatred, hoping for the death of Americans. Namely gdonallen.
Voltaire’s observation on true believers: “Those who can make you believe absurdities; can make you commit atrocities.”
Eric Hoffer’s: “People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.”
Yeah Baaabby!! That is Hakeem’s CULTURE – straight to violence when you don’t get what you want in life. That is also why a lot of thugs end up deceased. The calculus never quite works out the way they fantasize!
Bring it on. Lets get this over with. Im afraid that if this happens with the next generation there may not be enough Freedom Fighters to squash the left. It is time for the right to come together, organize and push back hard against the left. The violence from the left will continue and will increase if we don’t put a stop to it.
You stupid old fart, you’re never done anything of consequence in your entire lives ands here you are calling for the death of Americans by the latest generation. You’re learn nothing in your existence except how to hate and destruction.
There’s that old saying, ‘It all starts at the top’. And when you have a president whose main concern is fighting culture wars, everyone responds to that.
Yeah, Obama was one lame mfer!
Please explain the Occupy movement that began under Obama. We don’t need philosophical takes from people wearing blinders.
Anon: What are you trying to say? Are you blaming all this “white supremacy” nonsense with its call for violence on Trump? Please explain.
So, Professor Patton and Minority Leader Jeffries call for violence is Trump’s fault?
“…They found a fashionable audience awaiting them; windows overlooking the square had been rented at fancy prices; ladies came arrayed as for a festival. When Robespierre’s head was held up to the crowd a shout of satisfaction rose. One more death might mean little, but this one, Paris felt, meant that the Terror had come to an end.”