The WSJ editorial in question addresses the recent killings of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week, saying that the event was caused by a "problem that defies explanation."
President Obama had compared the shooting to the September 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls.
But the WSJ editorial says the comparison is inadequate: "Today the system and philosophy of institutionalized racism identified by Dr. King no longer exists."
Butterfield spoke out against the column's logic and ended by directly insulting the WSJ editorial board, writing "So, WSJ editorial board: f--- you!"
?? I get that it's a business & this is something like professional wrestling or reality TV. WSJ editorials are meant to be spectacle.
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? But there's a difference between their normal obnoxious horseshit & this one. Why the need to immediately exclaim "not race!"?
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? Who is served by pretending it doesn't? Where is the benefit here? Just avoiding awkward conversations or uncomfortable introspection?
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? Acknowledging that we still have a very, very long way to go is literally the least anyone could do.
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? I've never had anyone not want me to swim in their pool, use their bathroom, sit next to them on the bus, or be friends with their kids.
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015
?? I've always been the default. I had unlimited role models, and the path to any of them was always an obvious straight line.
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? It is obvious that this privilege is not equally distributed. The thousand little obstacles are constant & very real for many.
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015?? It matters how we talk about it after & it matters that we at least try to make some progress. So, WSJ editorial board: fuck you!
- Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) June 22, 2015