Associate dean, Trump hater argues that math is racist, system inherently violent toward Black children

An associate dean at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been outed as a “woke” loon who, it appears, quite dislikes President Donald Trump and even math — yes, math.

Percival Matthews, the associate dean for the university’s Office of the Dean, shared his belief on Facebook seven years ago that President Donald Trump is a racist, according to Fox News.

“What’s on my mind? This: When you get a guy in the ultimate seat of power with a history of racist endeavors who makes not-even-veiled racist comments that a decent portion of the people continue to defend, you’re left wondering what’s left to do,” he wrote.

“For many, the name Malcolm X evokes the image of an unnecessarily violent man who hated America. But if you actually read the text of his best speeches (I recommend The Ballot or the Bullet as a starter), it’s clear that the frustration was fueled by a bald-faced (look the origin of that term up too) denial of an undeniable and obvious truth,” he added.

It’s not entirely clear what all that gobbledygook meant, though the anti-Trump animus was clear.

But it gets worse. In a paper that he co-authored with Pooja Sidney, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky, Matthews suggested that mathematics is racist because not enough black students qualify for advanced math courses.

“This exclusionary narrative continues into the higher grades, with Black children routinely being shut out of advanced mathematics courses despite meeting achievement standards,” he wrote. “In stark contrast, more privileged White children are sometimes tracked into advanced courses despite failing to meet those standards.”

“How can a Black scholar work to improve a system through rigorous empirical research when that system is arguably inherently violent toward Black children, even the ones who excel at all the tests?” he added.

After longtime Minneapolis convict and career criminal George Floyd’s death while in police custody in 2020, Matthews suggested it was “Negro Hunting Season,” all while misnaming Floyd.

“If the police can casually and slowly kill Greg Floyd out in the open while they know they’re being recorded, even after Eric Garner, and an ex-police officer and son can casually chase down and kill Ahmaud Arbery and walk around for 2 months without the police so much as batting an eyebrow, then why not just post the signs: Negro Hunting Season,” he wrote.

“A legitimate (adv) use of violence can legitimate (vb) use of violence. There are a number of ways to read that sentence,” he added.

Matthews later justified the deadly riots in Minneapolis.

“And people are surprised that Minneapolis is burning?” he wrote. “Let’s take a look: – agents of the state spend several minutes torturing and taunting a black man to death as he begged, sobbed, and cried for his mother – they spend several more minutes defiling a corpse for no good reason as onlookers note that he’s dead – they’re very casual about it to the point where they almost smile for the camera – the EMTs are casual as well and dump him on a stretcher like a sack of potatoes.”

“So what SHOULD people do? Call the police? Write the President? Hope that the folks with confederate battle flags and AR-15s at the state capitol might lend a hand?” he added.

So far, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is sticking up for Matthews.

“UW-Madison supports free expression and doesn’t comment on the personal social media accounts of its students, faculty or staff,” John Lucas, the assistant vice chancellor for public affairs and institutional communications at UW–Madison, told Fox News.

“The university wouldn’t have any comment on a faculty member’s scholarly work, which is protected by academic freedom and does not represent any university stance,” the University of Kentucky’s office of public relations and strategic communications added.

When confronted with questions from The Madison Federalist, Matthews himself refused to respond to confirm “whether he supported the violence associated with the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, still agrees with his comments about Trump, or if he has suggestions on how to increase ideological diversity on the UW-Madison campus.”

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Vivek Saxena

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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.

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