Revealed: former colleagues claim Kevin Roberts told them he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004

Revealed: former colleagues claim Kevin Roberts told them he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004

The man behind Project 2025, the rightwing policy manifesto that includes calls for a sharp increase in immigrant deportations if Donald Trump is elected, told university colleagues about two decades ago that he had killed a neighborhood dog with a shovel because it was barking and disturbing his family, according toformer colleagues who spoke to the Guardian.

Kevin Roberts, now the president of the Heritage Foundation, is alleged to have told colleagues and dinner guests that he killed a neighbor’s pit bull around 2004 while he was working as a still relatively unknown history professor at New Mexico State University.

…

Two other people – a professor and her spouse - recall hearing a similar account directly from Roberts at a dinner at his home. Three other professors also said they heard the account at that time from the colleagues who said they had heard it directly from Roberts.

None recall Roberts – who worked at the university as an assistant professor from 2003 to 2005 – ever saying that the dog he allegedly said he killed was actively threatening him or his family.

    • Zahille7@lemmy.world
      131·
      2 months ago

      I’m almost afraid to ask how, but let’s see your racism for what it is.

      How is “pitbull” used as a racist dog whistle?

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
        24·
        2 months ago

        It’s not. What’s going on here is that dogs were bred for different things. Retrievers retrieve. Pointers point. Herders herd. Pitbulls lovers don’t like that pitbulls were bred to fight bulls and then bred to fight other dogs in pits. So they say “it’s all how you raise them” and any discussion about genetics they say is doggy racism, the same as human racism. Problem is dogs were specifically bred with artificial selection for hundreds of years (which is a ton considering dog years and big litters).

      • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
        414·
        2 months ago

        It is and was common to outlaw pit bulls in cities across the US on the misinformed grounds that they are aggressive. This was absolutely the case around the time this shit stain allegedly did whatever he claimed to do. What this law did in practice was to make it difficult for black and brown people to get occupancy permits in those municipalities, those who most commonly had them. Neighbors could use the ordinance to harass and complain about other “unsavory” neighbors. This guy is a piece of shit for killing a dog and for being a racist scumbag. Bragging about it and you don’t think they’re intrinsically related?

        • Zahille7@lemmy.world
          12·
          2 months ago

          I get what you’re saying, but I honestly feel like you’re being disingenuous here. Only in exaggerated media (shows, movies, music videos) do predominantly POC own pit bulls, which is where the stereotype came from.

          Where I live, it’s mostly white people that own pit bulls and such. And it’s also those same white people that are mostly impacted by such legislation. Personally, I think it’s utter bullshit to ban an entire breed of dog and I’ve seen so, SO, SO many people literally saying all put bulls should be put down.

          I call those people “dog racists,” and they always fail to see how their line of thinking could extremely easily be switched to a group of people rather than dogs.

          • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
            35·
            2 months ago

            Just because people have done great work to undo that horrible unjust stereotype does not make the lived experience of people like me and so many others any less real.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
              81·
              2 months ago

              Whether or not he’s a racist, a pit bull is a pit bull. My dog is half pit bull. Does that make me a racist when I say it?

              • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
                19·
                2 months ago

                No. It does not. Like a lot of language, context is important. That’s part of the definition of a dog whistle. Pit bull is still a trigger word, hell most if not all animal shelters avoid using the term for dogs like yours and mine. They call them terrier mixes instead.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                  101·
                  2 months ago

                  What are you even talking about?

                  If that was the breed of dog, what was he supposed to call it? Scotties are terriers. Jack Russels are terriers.

                  • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
                    26·
                    2 months ago

                    Fucks sake, I’m not trying to gas light you. Maybe you don’t live in such a hyper racist and segregated city. I’m tired, my back is killing me and just because you gave me one site doesn’t prove your point.

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      dig whistle

      I know I already replied with a joke, but just wanted to point out that it is the literal name for a common breed

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pit_Bull_Terrier

      The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is a dog breed recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA), but not the American Kennel Club (AKC).

      • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
        26·
        2 months ago

        Yep, I know! It still can be a coded way for white supremacists to complain about and harass neighbors. There were laws on municipal books outlawing pit bulls that were used against people of color.

        Edited the original comment for the spelling correction. Thanks!