University of Toronto Professor Rinaldo Walcott Says Free Speech Is 'White Supremacy'

Professor Rinaldo Walcott of the University of Toronto is arguing that the notion of free speech is a “white supremacist” ideal.

Rinaldo Walcott, the Director of the Women & Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto, has long argued that free speech is an ideal designed to uphold “white supremacy.” Walcott’s attitudes towards academic freedom and free speech were highlighted by the activist organization Far Left Watch. In a blog post published this week, the group reported that Walcott would be speaking at a “white privilege” conference at the public Ryerson University in Canada.

In a series of tweets, Walcott argued that free speech and academic freedom are rooted in white supremacy. “Let’s be clear: free speech and academic freedom, both of them, are presently constituted and defended are white supremacist speech. It is clear as day. (And I ain’t down with either of them).”

The Far Left Watch blog post pointed out the irony of Walcott’s position. Even though Walcott believes that universities are hotbeds of white supremacy, he is invited to speak at publicly-funded universities at conferences centered on leftist sociological concepts like “white privilege.”

This isn’t Walcott’s first controversial remark on social media. In December, Walcott called embattled Wilfrid Laurier teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd a “crying white girl” after Shepherd was accused by school officials of breaking the law over her decision to display a Jordan Peterson debate clip in the classroom.