New Delhi: Prominent Indian-Americans, like Us Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, have condemned a University of Pennsylvania law professor for making insulting remarks against the Asian American community, with particular scorn for Indian-Americans, news agency PTI reported.
Prof Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania claimed in a recent interview with Fox News that “Blacks” and “non-Western” groups feel “a huge degree of animosity and guilt against western people for [their] outsized successes and contributions.”
“Here’s the issue. They’re taught that they’re better than everyone else because they’re Brahmin elites, but their nation is a sh*thole on some level,” Wax, who has a long record of provocative statements, stated.
Penn Law professor Amy Wax tells Tucker Carlson that “Blacks” and other “non-western” groups harbor “resentment, shame, and envy” against western people for their “outsized achievements and contributions.” pic.twitter.com/jpQmOU554C
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 11, 2022
She also said that the West had outgunned and surpassed Asian Americans in every aspect.
“They’ve realised that we’ve outgunned and outclassed them in every way… They feel anger. They feel envy. They feel shame. It creates ingratitude of the most monstrous kind,” she was quoted by PTI in its report.
Wax then went after the powerful Indian-American doctors’ community. “They are on the ramparts for the antiracism initiative for ‘dump on America,’” she alleged.
Indian-Americans around the country were outraged by the remark.
“After President Trump left office, I thought the days of calling others “shithole” countries were over,” Krishnamoorthi said in a tweet.
“As an Indian-American immigrant, I’m disgusted to hear this UPenn Professor define Indian-American immigrants, and all non-white Americans, in such insulting terms,” he said.
He stated that such views are motivated by hatred and fear, and that such discussions make common-sense immigration reform far more difficult to achieve.
“Comments like these are borne of hatred and fear, and they lead to real harm for my constituents and our minority communities. They fuel hate crimes against minorities, and they make it much harder to accomplish common-sense immigration reform,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Comments like these are borne of hatred and fear, and they lead to real harm for my constituents and our minority communities. They fuel hate crimes against minorities, and they make it much harder to accomplish common-sense immigration reform. #StopHate #StopAsianHate
— Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) April 14, 2022
Neil Makhija, an Indian-American law professor, also chastised Wax for her remarks.
“It’s irresponsible to use your position to lend credibility to these overtly racist sentiments that don’t recognise Indian-Americans for who we are,” he told Axios.
The Indian-American Impact Summit is set to take place in Washington, DC next month. Makjiha told Axios that he intends to change his programming to address the issue and find answers to anti-Asian and South Asian prejudice in educational settings.
“The most unfortunate thing is that we have a lot of brilliant and incredible students at the law school,” he told NBC News.
“It makes you question whether she can fairly grade or educate,” he said.
According to US media, this is not the first time Wax’s provocative statements regarding race have gone viral.
Wax’s appearance on Carlson’s show isn’t the first time she’s uttered anti-Asian comments. In a December interview, she stated that Indian Americans should be “grateful” to be in the United States and that the country would be “better off with less Asians.” According to NBC News, Penn has acknowledged that Wax is the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
“The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has previously made clear that Professor Wax’s views do not reflect our values or practices,” it quoted a representative as saying.
“In January 2022, Dean Ruger announced that he would move forward with a University Faculty Senate process to address Professor Wax’s escalating conduct, and that process is underway,” the report quoted the Penn representative as saying.
(With PTI Inputs)