The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Georgia suggested Sonny Perdue, the Chancellor of the Georgia University System, showed support for “police brutality” after he said the stance of Georgia universities against anti-Israel protests led to a “huge influx” of new students applying to receive a higher education in the Peach State.
Perdue (pictured above) reportedly said the decision by Georgia’s higher education system to disallow extended student-led protests over the war between Israel and Hamas “created a huge influx in out-of-state applications to our schools here in Georgia,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, during a conference with lawmakers held by the Biennial Institute in Athens.
“Did you see the differences between some of the universities in the country, and the universities here in the state of Georgia, with the Palestinian, Hamas protests there?” Perdue asked rhetorically, “You notice a difference?”
The remarks provoked condemnation from Georgia’s chapter of CAIR, who suggested Perdue was excusing “police brutality,” and claimed the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture “smeared students” by stating they support the terrorist group Hamas.
“Chancellor Sonny Perdue smeared students who advocate for Palestine as ‘Hamas protesters’ and praised brutality towards them as a recruiting tool for Georgia colleges,” the group claimed, before asserting Perdue demonstrated “clear racism against Palestinians.”
Georgia briefly saw anti-Israel protests at some of its universities and colleges, including Emory University in Atlanta, where the Stop Cop City movement in April claimed responsibility for “an encampment at the Emory quad,” demanding “total divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City,” the activists’ name for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Emory University denied members of the university community were part of the encampment, and it was removed from the campus by law enforcement within hours.
While the Muslim advocacy group conflating Perdue’s description of the encampments as “Palestinian, Hamas protests” suggested those involved with such protests are “in touch with militants across the ocean,” police in Virginia found Hamas and Hezbollah flags in the home of two former George Mason University students who led the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter prior to its suspension.
In a law enforcement petition to seize firearms from their home under Virginia’s Red Flag Law, police reportedly wrote, “Subject is in the possession of several flags, paperwork, insignia, and other materials displaying anti-American rhetoric and expressions indicating ‘Death to America.'”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Chancellor Sonny Perdue” by Georgia University System.
