An online mockery was levelled at a University of Pennsylvania professor for suggesting that first responders in Uvalde, Texas failed to stop the shooter last week because “police didn’t care about brown kids.”
Anthea Butler, a professor at UPenn Religious Studies & Africana Studies, suggested Friday that racism caused the failure of police to stop a gunman from attacking a Texas elementary school. The attack left 19 children and 2 adults dead.
“So, since no one will ask, I’ll. These children died because they were mostly Mexican American, and the police didn’t care about a school with a lot of brown students? It’s Texas, after all.. and you don’t think anyone who isn’t white should be considered illegal.
Butler’s 2021 book, “White Evangelical Racism”, charges that racism is at root of conservative evangelical power and activism. He seemed to ignore the fact that the attacker at the Hispanic-majority City Uvalde was also of Latino descent. So was the city’s police chief Daniel Rodriguez, Pedro Arredondo, as well as several other officers on the scene.
Several of the officers were reported to have children in school at the time. Some of these children died in the attack.
After the negative responses to her tweet, Butler made her profile public. But, she wasn’t the only one making unfounded claims.
Wajahat Ali, a left-leaning columnist, agreed with Butler’s sentiments and tweeted: “I’m glad that I’m not alone thinking this.”
Anna Gifty Opoku Agyeman, activist and co-founder of the Sadie Collective, an organization dedicated to fighting racism faced by black women in economics, expressed her conviction that racism was responsible for the Uvalde deaths.
She wrote that she heard from two Black and Brown people who believed that the slow response to a lot of Latino children’s deaths was deliberate. “Honestly, racism will do this.”
In another tweet, she claimed that “IT WAS RACISM ALONG.” “The gun violence?” Racism. The slow PD response Racism. After hearing the reports, Abbott gets his check? Racism.”
It’s racism rooted in apathy. She said that it is an intentional disregard for Black and Brown people’s lives. It has BEEN a reality, so wake up.
Opoku-Agyeman stated that “these attacks target communities of color IN OUR COMMUNITIES.”
Many people criticized Butler’s tweet in response.
Jonathan Turley, a legal expert, highlighted the fact that Butler, unlike her peers on the left, “knows she can write and advocate with no fear of university actions being taken against her,” calling freedom speech “a privilege often used selectively today.”
Other Twitter users ridiculed Butler’s claims.
“Since nobody can answer, I’m certain this is what the majority Hispanic police force thought.” One Twitter user wrote, “All things are about race to racists.”
Another user commented, “This is the most stupid, brain dead statement made by a fool ever on Twitter.” Uvalde is a border city. The children are Latinos. Cops are Latinos. Nearly everyone is a Latino.”
“”[A] professor spreading hatred to university students without any consequences!” Another wrote, “She should be fired for her deplorable behavior.”
Butler has been prominent in media many times. He has a long history with racially charged rhetoric.
Butler said in October that white evangelicals listened to the Republican Party more than Christian scripture.
“Stop calling evangelicals moralists. She said they are not. Morality is a shield. They can get power by morality. You are not able to do what is best for them.
She claimed that evangelical Christians are white racists and could “end up killing us all” last May.
She warned that “if evangelicals don’t change, it poses an existential crisis for us all.” “They are part of the reason we can’t move forward because they claim to have religious beliefs.”
She added that “because they are selfish and don’t care, racism, sexism and homophobia, and their lack of belief or common sense in science, belief, and common sense may endanger us all.”
2015 was a big year for Butler’s suggestion that Dr. Ben Carson should be given the “coon-of-the-year” award.
