James Thomas
- The post by James Thomas came on the same day that former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in North Carolina for sharing the same seashell photograph back in 2025.
Secret service apprehended a suspect Saturday night at the White House Correspondents dinner in Washington D.C. after gunfire rang out in the halls of the Washington Hilton Hotel. Cole Allen, 31, faces charges that include attempting to assassinate the President. It was the third such attempt in as many years.
On Tuesday, University of Mississippi sociology professor James M. Thomas posted to his social media channels a photograph of seashells on a beach arranged to read “86 47.” Thomas captioned the post “waves in 1A,” presumably a reference to the First Amendment.
In the hospitality industry, “86” represents shorthand for tossing out or cancelling. However, in military and law enforcement circles, “86” is used as slang for killing someone. Donald Trump is the 47th president of the United States.
Thomas post came on the same day that former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in North Carolina for sharing the same seashell photograph back in 2025. Comey is charged with threatening a sitting U.S. president. When Comey first posted the photograph, backlash caused him to remove it and clarify that he was not encouraging violence.
After Magnolia Tribune broke Thomas’ post, the story was picked up on by national conservative social media commentators.
Magnolia Tribune sought comment from University officials moments after Thomas posted the photograph, but as of press time, had not received a response.
The University dealt with another First Amendment challenge in recent months. As first reported by Magnolia Tribune, following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a university employee, Lauren Stokes, shared a social media post that compared the slain pundit to a member of the Ku Klux Klan and suggested no remorse for his murder.
Stokes employment was terminated. She subsequently sued Chancellor Glenn Boyce for an alleged violation of her First Amendment rights. A federal judge recently dismissed that lawsuit.
Not Thomas’ First Time in Spotlight
Thomas is no stranger to controversy. In 2018, amid a contentious confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Thomas publicly encouraged the harassment of U.S. Senators.
“Don’t just interrupt a Senator’s meal, y’all,” Thomas tweeted. “Put your whole [d**n] fingers in their salads. Take their apps and distribute them to the other diners. Bring boxes and take their food home with you on the way out.” His encouragement to physically harass politicians made national news.
In January of 2019, Thomas compared young Trump supporters to “modern day Hitlerjugend.” Later that same year, Thomas was elected by his colleagues at Ole Miss to chair “the Chancellor’s Standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Faculty Responsibility.”
In 2020, Thomas got crossways with State Auditor Shad White. Thomas participated in a “scholar strike” to protest “racial injustice and inequity.” White demanded he reimburse the state for the days he was compensated while striking. Litigation ensued.
White again criticized Thomas for his post late Tuesday afternoon, eliciting a response from the professor which downplayed the use of “86.”
An online biography of Thomas notes:
“Jame Thomas (JT) is professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, co-editor of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and co-lead of the University of Mississippi’s Coalition for the Study of Race and Racism (CSRR).”
