Professor Joseph Wilson’s Justice Fund

Dear Friends  and Supporters,

Imagine archival research on African American Workers, original historical documents on A. Philip Randolph, Dr. Martin Luther King, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington and Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters being trashed.

Imagine a university seizing and never cataloging archival documents or providing a chain of custody listing numerous locations where these invaluable African American historical documents were randomly sent. One location was a kitchen storage closet, delivered on a college groundskeeper’s van that hauls dirt and trash.

Unfortunately, you don’t have to imagine: These archival materials were actually lost, stolen, destroyed and unaccounted for by the City University of New York (CUNY) as charged in my federal lawsuit.

Here’s the background: When half a dozen armed CUNY agents raided my office at the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education in the midst of an employment dispute in January 2012, little did I know my nightmare was just beginning. It was like being in a twilight zone of unjustified search and seizure, false charges, and vicious rumors.

Astoundingly, my legal team recently gained access to thousands of pages of documents that were hidden and only recently “located” by CUNY. This information, unavailable until now, would likely have changed the outcome of this outrageous situation.

With mounting legal expenses, I simply can’t afford the fight for justice as my legal team faces the limitless legal resources of the City University of New York.

Donate To The Professor Joseph Wilson Justice Fund Now 

Our videoclip above graphically shows that over 30 years of my lecture notes, book collections, manuscripts, letters from students, scholars, and elected officials was seized, never returned and literally trashed.

Even after 7 years! the university never made a record or list of seized documents and intellectual property including confidential human subject research that was exposed and compromised by the university.

Astonishingly and shamefully, the institutional history of the Graduate Center for Worker Education was erased, obliterated by CUNY’s reckless disregard for the people’s history. Disgustingly, as an act of elitism and unbridled arrogance, hundreds of graduate student’s Masters papers were also trashed by the Brooklyn College Political Science Department. 

Donate To The Professor Joseph Wilson Justice Fund Now 

As a scholar and activist I wouldn’t wish this Orwellian nightmare on anyone. But I have remained steadfast in my determination to fight for justice not only for me, and the preservation of African American history and the principle of academic freedom, but also for the hundreds of graduate students, mainly women and people of color, displaced and disempowered by CUNYs callous, cavalier administration. I’m deeply moved by the support of so many people. -- but we need your help.

It’s inspiring to see the growing list of people standing in solidarity including: ~Dr. Cornel West ~CUNY’s Black Faculty & Staff Association~ Angela Davis~ elected officials including Jumaane Williams New York’s Public Advocate who testified on behalf of Dr. Wilson~ civil rights leader Bill Fletcher~ Distinguished Professor Emerita Leith Mullings~ Brooklyn College Professor Ron Howell~ former NYC Commissioner Kevin Johnson, President, Brooklyn College Worker Education Graduate Alumni Association~recent Vulcan Society Presidents John Coombs & Regina Wilson~ Ed Ott former Director, New York’s Municipal Labor Council~President Laura Morand, Local 2627, District Council 37~ CUNY Law Professor Frank Deale Esq.~Richard Wright Esq.~Christian Hylton Esq.~The Center for NULEADERSHIP~ current/former leaders, Local 1199 SEIU including; VP’s Steve Kramer, Coraminita Mahr, Eddie Kay, Bob Muehlenkamp, Betty Hughley~Director Joseph McDermott, Consortium for Worker Education~Bill Henning, Business Manager OPEIU Local 32~Professor Saru Jayarman, UC Berkeley~Brooklyn College Professor George Cunningham~ NYC Human Rights Commissioner, Professor Emerita Gertrud Lenzer~Dom Tuminaro Esq. former NY Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights. Will you join them?

These supporters understand that because this trashing happened to an African American tenured full professor and a nationally renowned Worker Education program, it can happen to any scholar or any progressive academic program.

CUNY’s acts show that academic freedom is tenuous and threatened for all progressives and politically active faculty and students.

If you remain silent, you or your program may be next.

We call upon all of our friends and supporters to spread the word via social media that we’re standing up and going viral for justice, by tweeting, and by using Facebook, Instagram, email lists, and organizational endorsements.

We’re facing a tough legal fight because CUNY has unlimited legal resources. But the truth is on our side and the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice.

Unions, students, faculty, and supporters of academic freedom and the preservation of African American historical research have stepped forward to support this struggle.

Your support is urgently needed.

Will you help this battle for justice? Your donation to the Professor Joseph Wilson Justice Fund will strike a blow for decency and righteousness. Add your voice and moral force to help us reach our goal.

Thank you!
Dr. Joseph Wilson

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Donate Now to the Professor Joseph Wilson Justice Fund 

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Send a check or money order payable to:

John Yong Esq. Attorney at Law
39 East Broadway, 5th Fl. New York, NY 10002

*Check notation: “Professor Joseph Wilson Justice Fund”