Dr. Tommy Curry. Image: Department of – Philosophy - Texas A&M University against Curry followed.
Scholar Dr. Tommy Curry, whose focus is on Black male studies, often sparks conversation and, sometimes, backlash for his theories on the state of Black men in the U.S. and Black feminists.
Curry is a professor of philosophy who holds a personal chair in Africana philosophy and Black male studies at the University of Edinburgh. He is also the author of the controversial book, “The Man-Not, Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood.”
Recently, his views resulted in an online threat that members of the LGBTQ community from Spelman College and Columbia University would come after Curry. LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, and ally.
A tweet from an account named “sweet butta” said, “Black women deal with the biggest threats and harm in society. Curry has a long history of stepping down on the issues that black women deal with. I got a whiff of Curry at a lgbtq lecture at Spelman a few months ago. 3 fem professors are working together to combat his book.”
In. follow-up tweet, sweet butta continued, “I can’t wait for the amazing black female lgbtq professors @SpelmanCollege and @Columbia who are working to set fire to Curry’s logic and book. He’s going to find out that big money will bring big brains to destroy his little theories.”
In his 2017 book, “The Man-Not, Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood,” Curry writes about the violence that Black men are subjected to, saying it’s not just physical violence but sexual violence.
“I think there is more resistance presenting Black males as victims amongst Black academics than the Black community. I often receive letters of support from Black men who are survivors of rape and domestic violence, or Black men suffering from disability or trauma, as well as Black mothers. In the academy, Black masculinity is understood under one lens, namely Black feminism,” he told KPFA in a 2107 interview.
“We have Black men and boys who are hurt, abused, and raped by Black women in their lives. We have Black men and boys who are also hurt, abused, and raped by other Black men in their lives as well. I tend to side with victims in this regard,” Curry added.
The recent tweet on Twitter wasn’t the first time Curry has been threatened. In 2019, he said threats led him to leave the U.S.
At the time, he was a tenured Texas A&M University philosophy professor. He received death threats for his comments on racial violence. He accepted a teaching job in Scotland, according to a report from Emma Pettit in The Chronicle Of Higher Education.
Curry told The Chronicle he was attacked online by white supremacists, something he said “stains you in a certain way” in the U.S. job market.
During a 2012 interview on Prof. Rob Redding’s radio show, “Redding News Review,” Curry discussed race, fear, and other topics. He mentioned how uncomfortable white people are with the idea of Black people owning firearms and using them to combat racism, The Guardian reported.
Afterward, a five-minute, out-of-context video excerpt of the talk was later posted on YouTube. Conservative blogger Rod Dreher charged that Curry was a racist in a column titled, “When Is It OK to Kill Whites?” He twisted Curry’s words, saying Curry was urging Black people to kill white people.
Dr. Tommy Curry. Image: Department of – Philosophy – Texas A&M University against Curry followed.
