University of California, Los Angeles professor Mark Sawyer has had an especially difficult time dealing with President-elect Donald Trump, emails exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller reveal.
TheDC has previously reported on an email from Sawyer in which he called former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani a “white nationalist” and described himself as “despondent.” He also said, “With all do [sic] respect to Trump supporter students who may feel surrounded, the state is and has always been on their side.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: UCLA Professors Freak Our Over Trump In Department-Wide Emails)
Sawyer is a member of UCLA’s political science department and is the director of the university’s center for the study of race, ethnicity, and politics. The race professor has been venting about his thoughts on Trump in department-wide emails, which he has ceased sending since TheDC reported on them.
TheDC, though, has one more rather racy email from Sawyer to share. In an email titled, “A Final Comment on Climate,” Sawyer shared a story of harassment he faced at a store.
“Wednesday of last week I was at a check out counter buying my food. The guy behind me pushes close to me and says, ‘You are going to learn to love America how it’s supposed to be and stop trying to change it.’ I said excuse me? I was confused not even realizing he was a Trump supporter. The woman behind the counter got angry first and told the man to leave me alone,” Sawyer wrote last week.
He added: “I realized what was going on and I said to him, ‘Look I have a right to disagree with you or believe whatever just leave me in peace,’ The young white guy looked agitated and said ‘You are one of those who doesn’t love America!’ And he pushed closer. I then put down my food. I told him I didn’t want any trouble but if he continued we could step outside and settle it on Westwood Blvd. He then said, ‘Oh forget about it and fuck you.’ I told him ‘fuck you too’ and went on about my day.”
The UCLA professor went on to say he went back to the store and the manager told him, “they’ve had several incidents all very similar profiles, person of color younger white male. This is just starting.”
TheDC has reached out to Sawyer to find out what store he is referring to and to get a description of the manager so the public could be informed about these incidents. Sawyer has not responded.
TheDC shared the email with Tim Groseclose, professor of economics at George Mason University and previously a professor of political science at UCLA, to get his thoughts on Sawyer’s story. He said: “One thing about the professors at UCLA who study race: They don’t place a high priority on telling the truth. I would say they’re lying, but I think the problem is more complex. Often, I think it’s more accurate to call it carelessness or a disregard for the truth. Sometimes even, I think the problem is that they lack the ability to discern the truth.”
Sawyer’s email didn’t just stop with the story about a young man pushing up close behind him. He went on to write, “How bothered are we that there are white nationalists in the White House. We’ve elected a person who’s racial politics are somewhere in the same universe as Louis Farrakhan to the White House. He’s just a white version.”
“Democratic norms and institutions and basic civility rest upon very little. Trumpism as a political philosophy has already produced more than its fair share of violence. The confrontations will get worse and more intense as he proceeds on a project that is far more divisive than anything we have seen from the Republican party with playing off racial unrest and paranoia is the central currency,” he added.
Sawyer then gave a grim warning to his colleagues. “I pray my colleagues are not sending the message to just calm the waters and let people think this is just business as usual (as the doomsday clock gets moved).”
UPDATE: James Enstrom, a retired researcher at UCLA, has requested a meeting with Sawyer and UCLA political science department chair Jeffrey Lewis. Enstrom said in an email Friday: “I strongly believe that a public university like UCLA, which is largely funded by California and United States taxpayers, should not engage in liberal activism and should reflect the political and academic diversity that exists in California and the United States. I would like to propose ways in which the political and academic diversity of the UCLA faculty can be improved.”
