University of Louisville professor Ricky Jones, who teaches in the Department of Pan-African Studies, recently wrote two opinion editorials in the local newspaper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
In the May 29 editorial entitled, “Support for Donald Trump and Matt Bevin proves America is a nasty nation,” Jones criticized the Republican Party, President Donald Trump, and Kentucky Republican Governor Matt Bevin for their political stances and tendency to invoke religion.
Governor Bevin is seeking re-election this fall and observers see it to be a tough election campaign, which Jones then compared to the 2020 presidential election between President Donald Trump and a yet-to-be-decided political challenger from the Democratic Party. Jones unleashed political rhetoric slamming both the president and Governor Bevin, calling both “mean-spirited, closed-minded and xenophobic.” He added, “We know they are petty men with dictatorial tendencies,” without giving specific examples to back up his many claims.
But Jones did not stop the rhetoric at that point. He continued:
“We know they subscribe to backwards paradigms that peripheralize women, the poor and minorities. We know they are racially challenged. We know they are morally bankrupt liars. These men are not just terrible leaders, their humanity is questionable. Yet many people continue to pull them to their bosoms, defend and support them. Why?”
Jones acknowledged the political argument of the president being a “con artist,” but instead said, “They are open and notorious with their madness.” He subsequently blasted “this nakedly capitalist country” that “values paper (of the green variety) over people.” Jones accused the president of white supremacy, saying, “The nasty segment of this country still makes excuses for white supremacists – in the White House. It continues to glorify ideologies and iconography that reinforce the legitimacy of the Confederacy.”
In his follow-up editorial, after a local Republican party quoted his first editorial as fundraising material in an e-mail, Jones did not relent in his political rhetorical assault against the party and president whom he dislikes. He acknowledged the Jefferson Country Republican Party’s e-mail, which included the line, “Once again, the Courier Journal and Ricky L. Jones demonstrate their utter contempt for people who don’t think or act like them” and his response was, “I have utter contempt for you.” Much of what followed were similarly strongly-worded political rhetoric.
Then, Jones wrote the inflammatory line, “I have contempt for you because you pimp God — turning Her into a callous, homophobic, supremacist, gun-toting bigot to justify your nastiness.” Jones also took offense at not being recognized for his doctorate, saying, “When you go low, I’ll go LOWER! And oh, by the way — that’s DR. Jones (not MR.) to YOU, nasty, nasty, naughty little Republicans.” He quoted a rapper named Birdman, “As Birdman said, put some “respeck” on my name!”
Jones’ background is in political science, which degree he earned at the University of Kentucky, speaks to his two opinion editorial pieces and their political bent. According to his brief biography, his research interests are “African American Politics and Leadership; Political Theory; African American Nationalism; Violence and Resistance; the African American Male.”
