Howard professor encourages white allies to ‘be like John Brown,’ a vigilante killer

A Howard University journalism professor recently called on white progressives to model themselves after John Brown, a pre-Civil War vigilante who murdered unarmed civilians before being hanged for treason.

Dr. Stacey Patton published a blog post titled “John Brown Didn’t Ask Enslaved People How to Be A Good White Ally” on Oct. 18, discouraging white liberals from seeking guidance on how to support minorities and instead urging them to emulate Brown’s violent tactics.

Patton is a media, journalism, film and communication professor at Howard and has contributed to outlets such as The New York Times and CNN, according to her profile on the school’s website.

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“Every few weeks a white person, usually well-meaning, writes to me asking how to be a better ally,” Patton wrote, calling such inquiries “exhausting as hell” and “a form of emotional outsourcing.”

She complained that well-intentioned white people asking for advice represent “another round of homework assigned to the wounded,” adding that “the framing still centers them.”

Rather than provide constructive suggestions, Patton pointed to Brown as her preferred model for white activism. “John Brown never asked enslaved people how to be a good white ally,” she wrote, praising Brown as someone who “was a m’f***n’ gangsta!”

Born in Connecticut in 1800, Brown was an abolitionist who became infamous for orchestrating brutal killings in Kansas and Virginia, according to American Battlefield Trust. On May 24, 1856, Brown led armed men to Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, where they dragged five unarmed men and boys from their homes and murdered them. Brown also killed a slave owner during a Missouri raid.

In 1859, Brown led a failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The first casualty was Hayward Shepherd, a free black man. Brown was captured, tried, and executed for murder, inciting slave insurrection, and treason against Virginia.

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Patton’s elevation of Brown as an exemplar continues a pattern at universities of promoting radical activism. In March, New York University’s Center on Race Inequality & the Law published protest tips encouraging white people to “[u]se white privilege to protect others” by physically interposing themselves between police and “Black and Brown people.”

Howard University recently made headlines when it announced that Ibram X. Kendi would lead the Howard Institute for Advanced Study in February, following the financial collapse of his Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, which laid off over half its staff in 2024.

Patton concluded her post by asking white allies: “What am I willing to burn so somebody else can breathe?”

“Howard University condemns all forms of violence, particularly actions that may result in the loss of life,” the Howard University Office of Communications said in a statement. “The University remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding and protecting the First Amendment rights of free expression.”

“However, the views and opinions expressed by individual faculty, staff, or students are solely their own and should not be construed as reflecting the official stance of Howard University,” the statement concluded.