Students at Goddard College in Vermont have invited convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal to be their commencement speaker this weekend. The small student body, who all design their own curriculum, have several graduation ceremonies each year. Since convicted felons are not usually allowed to leave prison for commencement addresses, Abu-Jamal has recorded a statement for the audience.
Goddard’s interim president couldn’t be prouder. Bob Kenny said in a statement that the students’ selection of Abu-Jamal “shows how this newest group of Goddard graduates expresses their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that.”
There is hardly any critical thinking going on here at all. Students have swallowed whole the conspiracy theories and left-wing propaganda about Mumia Abu-Jamal. But what is more shameful is that the adults have supported them. Indeed, this is not the murderer’s first appearance at a college graduation. Both Antioch and Evergreen have had him before.
The casual disdain for police officers was also evident this week in the office of the mayor of New York. It was discovered that Rachel Noerdlinger, a top aide to New York First Lady Chirlane McCray, is in a longterm relationship and living with a convicted murderer and cop-hater by the name of Hassaun McFarlan. According to the New York Post:
McFarlan, who has been Noerdlinger’s beau for six years, has a long criminal history. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter for shooting an 18-year-old rival over a down jacket when he was 15, an official source confirmed. He was sentenced to four years in prison on interstate cocaine trafficking charges in Bristol County, Mass., and was released in 2007. McFarlan was charged with marijuana possession in 2012 and spent seven days in jail in 2011 for driving with a suspended license, records state. His most recent brush with the law was last November, when he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, after he was accused of running a cop off the road in Edgewater, NJ,. with Noerdlinger’s Mercedes. McFarlan, 36, also has made his hatred for cops clear, calling them “pigs” on Facebook many times.
The mayor’s staff was apparently aware of the relationship and McFarlan’s criminal history. They weren’t aware that Noerdlinger was living with the guy. And so they launched an ever-so-brief investigation into why she lied about that on her background check. But all is forgiven apparently. DeBlasio says, ““She’s very dedicated to the work of bringing police and community together and that’s what we care about.”
There is little evidence so far that this mayor cares about anything other than weakening the police force. In that sense, he is no different from some naïve liberal college student nestled in the mountains of Vermont.
Just a point or two of information about the school. The students are adults as well as the older, or perhaps to better suit Naomi, the elders. An alum of the school is David Mamet, who is anything but progressive although he has been in the distant past. Broad brushes paint more quickly but leave more holidays for their effort.