STEVE GOLDSTEIN: The Black Lives Matter movement has grown in influence and scope in the weeks since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and there's been backlash in some communities to that reality. One of those appears to be Prescott. A new professor at Prescott College, Patrisse Cullors, has been facing online abuse and racist comments in the short time since she was hired. Cullors, who lives in Los Angeles and teaches from California, is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. John D'Anna, senior reporter for the Arizona Republic, recently wrote about Cullors and Prescott and is with me to talk about it. John, what was the nature of the comments that were directed toward Patrisse Cullors?

JOHN D'ANNA: Most of the comments involved people who said that she was not the right kind of person for their community, that they wanted to send her back to California, and some of the more disturbing ones said things like, "We don't want her kind here." And the most disturbing one that I saw said, had, had a lynching reference, which, you know, is just very triggering to anybody in the African American community, much less an activist.

GOLDSTEIN: When we think about Prescott, at least what many of us think about Prescott, we think of it as a place to go in a typical summer, obviously, this is atypical summer because of the pandemic. But what should we know about the culture of Prescott? Obviously not painting with too broad a brush here, but in terms of its demographics, in terms of whether it is racially diverse in any way.

D'ANNA: Yeah, I've been talking to a lot of people who live in Prescott, and some of them are, feel very threatened by the way the community is changing. They've had a big influx of people from California move in and they feel that that is threatening their lifestyle. Prescott historically has been a very, very white community. It's 92% white, according to the latest census, which is one of the whitest communities in Arizona. It's also a very conservative community, has a very small town feel. Their, their motto is that they are everybody's hometown, but not everybody feels welcome there. And Prescott has a long history of, of issues dealing with race, which could be one of the reasons that explains why it continues to be so white. It was founded, one of the early founders was a Confederate soldier. There was a fort established nearby that Prescott grew up around, and that fort was dedicated in part to campaigns against local Indian nations. And even in the, in the 1920s, there's a interesting picture on file with the Sharlot Hall Museum there showing a Klan march through the streets of Prescott. So it's, it's a community that's not unacquainted with, with racial issues.

GOLDSTEIN: John, in the piece I was really struck by is kind like by some of the Yavapai Oath Keepers, which, as you describe is a national organization made of active and former military members who consider themselves to be, quote, "guardians of the Republic." The interesting quote that struck me, and maybe since you spoke to this person, you can sort of describe where it, where it came from. He says, "This is an extremely conservative area. Because of BLM's reputation, they're not unknown for burning your city to the ground if they don't get their way. People up here in Prescott are very concerned about that because we're in a high, very high fire risk."

D'ANNA: Yeah, and I just did an interview — I didn't just interview Mr. Arroyo, but I went through an entire two-hour YouTube video of one of the Yavapai Oath Keepers' meetings. And the hyperbolic speech permeates the entire, the entire video. And yeah, he made some really dramatic generalizations about black, Black Lives Matter. And to him and the people who are, are members of that group, they really see BLM as a Marxist organization that is threatening our freedom. And they are pretty unapologetic about their, their disdain for, for Black Lives Matter.

GOLDSTEIN: So what did folks from Prescott College, including the president of the college, say to you as far as what their level of support is for Patrisse Cullors and their reaction to, to some of this racist rhetoric that came out?

D'ANNA: Over the weekend, the president of Prescott College, John Flicker, posted a statement on the college's website affirming its support for Patrisse Cullors and affirming the college's support for the Black Lives Matter's movement. And obviously, they condemned the racist speech that was attacking her on social media.

GOLDSTEIN: And, John, you didn't get a chance to talk with Patrisse Cullors, but she did have an Instagram post where she addresses this. And it sounds like, based on her experience, that she is not going to back down regardless of the racist comments people spew at her.

D'ANNA: She did post a, an Instagram statement that basically said she wasn't going to back down, that she wasn't going to be intimidated. She also talked about how much she loved her, her students at Prescott College. And I should mention that she, she just teaches online. She doesn't actually set foot on the campus; she lives in Los Angeles full-time. But she loves her students, and she believes in what they're trying to achieve in their education. And she's proud of her association with the college. One thing that several people who have talked to her told me was that she really doesn't want to dignify the comments that were made against her by responding to them and give them further, further currency, but the, the comments are out there and they're being spoken a lot about in the community. In fact, the local paper there, the [Daily] Courier, editorialized on it and condemned them as well.

GOLDSTEIN: John D'Anna, senior reporter for the Arizona Republic. John, thanks as always, really interesting piece. We appreciate it and stay well.

D'ANNA: Thanks so much, Steve.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been modified to correct the spelling of Patrisse Cullors' name.

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