A conservative female student attending the University of Missouri was attacked on Twitter and called an “Uncle Tom” because she rallied in support for a campus statue of Thomas Jefferson.
Jasmine Wells, a Mizzou student and member of the Mizzou College Republicans was attacked on Twitter Tuesday for hosting and supporting a “Stand With Jefferson” rally, Campus Reform reported. After word got out about the event, some Twitter users started attacking the Republican group, with one user even calling Wells an “Uncle Tom.”
“And a black girl got the nerve to have been in a picture and sign the petition #UncleTom,”@Kennedyxpress tweeted about Wells, Campus Reform reported.
Wells, however, stood her ground and tweeted back to @Kennedyxpress:
That would be me. And I can assure you that I am quite proud to be in that picture. #StandWithJefferson https://t.co/3f6e0Y3YUO
— Jasmine Wells (@all_that_jaz17) October 20, 2015
During the rally, the Mizzou Republicans draped Jefferson in an American flag, and urged fellow students to support the statue.
(Photo: Courtesy of Mizzou College Republicans)
Earlier this month, the on-campus statue was vandalized with Post-it notes scrawled with words like “racist” and “rapist.” A Change.org petition was even created to have the statue of the former president removed from campus entirely, but only received 86 supporters. (RELATED: University Of Missouri Wants To Remove ‘Racist Rapist’ Statue Of Thomas Jefferson)
The Mizzou College Republicans rushed to protect the rendering of the Founding Father by creating a petition of their own, as well as the Tuesday rally. Thus far, the petition earned over 146 signatures from Mizzou students, Campus Reform reported.
(Photo: Courtesy of Mizzou College Republicans, Picture of Jasmine Wells)
Despite the success of the rally, a slew of students were outraged the Republican group supported the statue and voiced their opinions on Twitter.
#StandWithJefferson because white people would rather celebrate a predatory slave owner than admit that #BlackLivesMatter. — Renee Maxwell (@MaxwelltheRed) October 20, 2015
#StandWithJefferson is literally the epitome of privilege going unchecked on a college campus. — definitely not ellie (@ufo_grrl) October 21, 2015
“For a movement that wants to end racism on campus, their response to the event and my participation in it, I felt, was very racist and hurtful,” Wells told Campus Reform.
