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Jenn Jackson: Professor slammed for calling 9/11 ‘attack on heteropatriarchal' system

Dr Jenn Jackson took to Twitter on Friday, September 10, and published a series of tweets vocalizing her problems

A political science professor at Syracuse University sparked a major uproar after claiming 9/11 was an attack on "heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems" that "white Americans fight to protect."

Dr Jenn Jackson took to Twitter on Friday, September 10, and published a series of tweets vocalizing her problems with how "white pundits and correspondents" spoke about 9/11 and the impact the tragedy had on America. In her website's biography, Jackson notes her pronouns as "they/them" and describes herself as a "queer genderflux androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, a lover of all Black people, and an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University in the Department of Political Science."

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"It's twenty years since 9/11 and I'm still really disturbed by how many white pundits and correspondents talk about it," Jackson began on Twitter. "I'm watching [White House chief of staff on 9/11] Andy Card and [Former Homeland Security Secretary] Jeh Johnson on MSNBC. Card just said that 9/11 was the first time that Americans ever felt fear. He said that it was the last morning we woke up without fear and that the 'terrorists' succeeded in introducing us to fear."

"White Americans might not have really felt true fear before 9/11 because they never felt what it meant to be accessible, vulnerable, and on the receiving side of military violence at home. But, white Americans' experiences are not a stand-in for 'America,'" she continued. "Plenty of us Americans know what it's like to experience fear and we knew before 9/11. For a lot of us, we know fear *because* of other Americans."

"We have to be more honest about what 9/11 was and what it wasn't. It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity. It was an attack on the systems many white Americans fight to protect," Jackson alleged. "We have to be clear that the same motivations that animated America's hypervigilance and responsiveness to 'terror' after 9/11 are now motivating the carceral state and anti-immigration policy," she added.

As expected, Jackson's incendiary remarks sparked a wave of backlash and mockery. "Osama Bin Laden was a famous opponent of heteropatriarchy. Read more about it in my forthcoming paper 'Queering the Destruction of the Kuffar,'" one quipped.

"The language of wokeism… it uses colorful, smart & complicated-sounding phrases tossed into a word salad and mixed with emotional expressions so you can't deconstruct the nonsense. Jenn Jackson is a poster child of a crazy person acting as a paid pseudo-intellectual," another mocked.

"This sounds an awful lot like you're saying it was both good and justified," a user commented. "Let me make sure I am getting this correct... The 9/11 attack by arguably the most heteropatriarchal people on earth was orchestrated because of America's heteropatriarchal systems? I'm sure the female & LGBTQ execs who died in the Twin Towers would love this hot take," one wrote.

"The state should remove this woman from educational institutions. Public or Private," another opined. "What a race-hustling hatemonger Jenn Jackson is," another chimed in.

Jackson "locked" her Twitter account following the uproar. However, her tweets were archived here.

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists led by Osama bin Laden hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. The attacks claimed nearly 3,000 American lives and marked the dawn of a new era in US history as it embarked on its controversial "War on Terror." That said, this was the first 9/11 anniversary after the US concluded its 20-year war effort in Afghanistan.