Read on Twitter
a thread on an example of vile racism in UK academia. CW: racism, anonymous harassment
perhaps you remember how in November, Prof. Olivette Otele posted an anonymous letter she had received: https://twitter.com/OlivetteOtele/status/1196779721184436225
Associate Prof. Kate Quinn then posted a similar letter she had received about one year earlier: https://twitter.com/KateQuinnUCL/status/1197105086280933376
some characteristics of the language of the letters, such as a penchant for alliteration, are striking. Certain phrases are *highly* characteristic.
In the letter sent to Dr. Quinn, the phrase “The ramshackle racist republic of Haiti” (26th and 27th line from the top, just above the fold), turns up exactly one hit in a google search:
In the letter sent to Prof. Otele, “subsaharan sinkholes” (center of the 11th line from the top), turns up exactly two hits in a google search:
“The ramshackle racist republic of Haiti” is found in a comment at The Intercept made in 2017 by a person using the username “sally radford”: https://theintercept.com/2017/11/22/canada-prepares-for-a-new-wave-of-refugees-as-haitians-flee-trumps-america/?comments=1
"subsaharan sinkholes" is found in comments from 2019 by a person using the username “sally radford” has left on the site http://seekingalpha.com :
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3500177-nigerias-bonny-light-force-majeure-shell-says https://seekingalpha.com/news/3497174-bid-exxon-shell-revive-1_8b-arbitration-award-nixed-judge
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3500177-nigerias-bonny-light-force-majeure-shell-says https://seekingalpha.com/news/3497174-bid-exxon-shell-revive-1_8b-arbitration-award-nixed-judge
“sally radford” has left hundreds comments on this site, some of which contain biographical information:
e.g., https://seekingalpha.com/news/3505534-shell-brent-oilfield-platforms-boarded-greenpeace-protesters#comment-83099862 (“As a Shell geologist on Brent in 1976 where my pioneering colleagues risked life and limb to deliver energy and create wealth for the nation, I am disgusted…”); +
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4287991-royal-dutch-shell-first-pick-grandpas-retirement-portfolio-yields-6_7-percent-significant#comment-82708838 (“Though retired, I am not a grandparent but recommend Shell, my former employer, …")
the letters, the comments, and the biographical details are all consistent with the biography and other writings of Dr Sally Radford, for example here, https://thegstt.org/publications/article/49 and, for example, as reported here: http://crossrhodestt.com/2018/01/20/to-free-the-future/ and here: https://coreygilkes.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/the-ganges-is-welcome-in-the-nile-not-in-the-danube-mississipi-or-the-thames/
Dr Sally Radford is a fellow of @geolsoc. I have contacted them about the comments posted on seekingalpha and about the anonymous letters. They have replied that they have no basis for proceeding to contact Dr Radford about these comments or the letters.
Dr Radford is also a fellow of @AAPG and of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences, neither of which responded to my emails.
