1627: Enslaver George Yeardley Dies & Femicide in Charlottesville, Virginia

Sir George Yeardley, colonial governor of Virginia and slaveowner dies. Only eight years prior in 1619, he had arrived in colonial Virginia on the ship the White Lion. With him were 20 Angolans kidnapped in Africa and exchanged for provisions upon arrival. This began the introduction of the African slave trade into the English colonies of North America.

As I often say, racism and sexism are almost always found together, like peanut butter and jelly on stale white bread. For this reason, I explore the intersection of racism and sexism in its most oppressive form: homicide. It’s fitting to discuss this at a time when Texas Governor Greg Abbott is attempting to abuse his gubernatorial authority to exonerate a white supremacist cop, Daniel Perry, for the murder of white Black Lives Matter protestor, Garrett Foster.

As the daughter of a homicide victim whose killer goes to trial this month, femicide in particular weighs heavily on my mind. As I was researching George Yeardley, I was reminded of the tragic murder of Yeardley Love who appeared in my Google search. Her surname is a cruel irony, as her last moments certainly weren’t spent being loved. On May 3, 2010, in Charlottesville, Virginia, Yeardley’s college boyfriend kicked open her locked bedroom door, shook and beat her to death. There had been a long history of domestic violence with threatening emails and texts exposed at the trial.

All of this happened in the same city that seven years later would be the location of the Unite the Right rally with men who looked like Yeardley Love’s boyfriend marching angrily with tiki torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” The pathology that drives mostly men to commit murder is the same pathology that drives racist and sexist violence: narcissism and psychopathy. It was during this rally that yet another white man, using his vehicle as the missile, murdered 32 year-old Heather Heyer. The circumstances were different, but the demographic doing the harm remained the same: young white men full of manufactured rage and fake victimization.

This theme of being unable to distinguish between victim and perpetrator is currently playing out in Texas. Based on the topics that I cover, I have been the target of vicious trolling with a white male Men’s Rights Advocate from Australia contacting my employer in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. He copied my boss to defame, harass and stalk me and the damage was done. Not even three months later, I would see my contract non-renewed by a white man also unable to distinguish between victim and perpetrator and re-inflicting pain on me and my family as a sole proprietor.

The events of 2020 contributed to my decision to leave white male dominated academia entirely after award-winning graduate program management at two public research universities. That decision allowed me to spend four months archiving personal family history and develop a database and curriculum to teach Black and women’s history in a state hostile to it. White supremacy comes in many forms and it attacks anyone, regardless of gender or race, who stands for equity and justice.

After my permanent ban from LinkedIn and many years of responding to vicious trolls posting under their employer brand and professional identities with full names, I sought refuge here at Substack. However, in just the last week, Justin Teerlinck, a Substack writer whose brand is “provocateur” (and white identity politics) could not reign in his emotional impulses when I highlighted my murdered mother as the reason I am able to clearly distinguish between victim and perpetrator. Mr. Teerlinck is a white man who published a book on Amazon and whose online bio describes him as a “mental health occupational therapist.” This is how he responded:

A little while after that, one of his like-minded Substack members posted this:

It is always more jarring than surprising now when I encounter people who are obviously devoid of both cognitive and emotional empathy while practicing as mental health professionals. I will never forget that one of the most vicious trolls on LinkedIn was a Canadian white man with a PhD in clinical psychology who is paid handsomely to consult defense attorneys in cases involving perpetrators of sexual assault.

With the rollout of Notes and the mention of at least one Black woman writer that she has already had to block and mute people, I’m concerned about what the community could become. I’m pleased that so far, there seems to be minimal censorship and policing. As an educator by training, the trolls provide excellent case studies and content for writing about their flawed and hateful ideology.

Femicide is a global public health crisis and while Yeardley Love happened to be a white woman, its victims (and perpetrators) come from every ethnic and racial group. Yes, Justin Teerlinck and Governor Abbott, I can distinguish between fake victims of manufactured white male outrage (both of you being the former) and real victims like my mother, Garrett Foster, Yeardley Love and Heather Heyer, and it’s very easy: the victim is the murdered one. Do I really have to point this out?

For understanding this blame the victim culture, I suggest studying “just world hypothesis” and reading, “Women are Blamed for Everything” by Dr. Jessica Taylor who has also been the victim of vicious trolling and misogynistic abuse. I discovered her work when I googled the Men’s Rights Advocate because he had done the same to her. This is the price that expressive women pay for insisting on retaining our voices. There should be no bullying on this platform, but that’s only an ideal. The Justin Teerlinck and the Greg Abbotts of the world are unfortunately a dime a dozen and it always feels like a game of Whac-A-Mole.

A special shout out and thank you to all my new subscribers who found me on Notes in the last 24 hours! I’m eternally grateful for your interest in my story and my writing. On behalf of Yeardley Love and all victims of homicide, let’s spread some love in this very special place where I feel like I have finally found my home. Looking forward to building more community here…..