Penn Law professor says Black and Asian people are resentful of ‘Western achievement’

Professor Amy Wax is known for making racist and xenophobic remarks, and she's earning criticism for her latest statements.

A University of Pennsylvania law professor made an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show recently and said Black and Asian people are resentful of “Western peoples’ outsized achievements,” according to a new report from NBC News.

Professor Amy Wax is known for making racist and xenophobic remarks, and she’s earning criticism for her latest statements, which she made on Tucker Carlson Today

Professor Amy Wax (above) is known for making racist and xenophobic remarks, and she’s earning criticism for her latest statements on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. (Screenshot: Fox News Channel)

“They climb the ladder, they get the best education, we give them every opportunity, and they turn around and lead the charge on ‘we’re racist, we’re an awful country.’ On some level, their country is a s–thole,” she said of Indian Americans. 

Wax made the comments while mocking the anti-racist efforts of South Asian women at the Penn School of Medicine. “I feel like asking these people, why did you leave your country? Why are you here?” 

As noted by NBC News, Carlson added, “You don’t show up in someone else’s country and start attacking them.”

Wax, who is Jewish, said earlier this year that the U.S would be “better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.” 

Neil Makhija, a lecturer at Penn Law and the executive director of the South Asian civic organization Indian American Impact, expressed concern about Wax’s ability to effectively teach. “The most unfortunate thing is that we have a lot of brilliant and incredible students at the law school,” he said. “It makes you question whether she can fairly grade or educate.”

Wax, 69, is reportedly in the midst of disciplinary proceedings at Penn. “The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has previously made clear that Professor Wax’s views do not reflect our values or practices,” a representative told NBC News. “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.”

Previously, Penn Law dean Ted Ruger referred to Wax as “thoroughly anti-intellectual and racist.” 

According to the university newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian, in 2018, Wax was banned from teaching first-year law classes after appearing in a lecture video where she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the [Penn Law School] class and rarely, rarely in the top half,” attempting to justify her belief in the downside of affirmative action in universities. “I can think of one or two students who’ve graduated in the top half of my required first-year course.”

However, Ruger said then that her assertions were false, noting in his statement, “And contrary to any suggestion otherwise, Black students at Penn Law are extremely successful, both inside and outside the classroom, in the job market, and in their careers.”

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