University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax has sparked online outrage again for her comments about Asian immigrants.
Wax, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Eastern Europe, criticized immigrants who criticize the U.S. during an interview with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show “Tucker Carlson Today” on April 8.
The 69-year-old professor stated that “Blacks” and “non-Western” groups have “a tremendous amount of resentment and shame against Western peoples for [their] outsized achievements and contributions” before specifically calling out Brahmin Indian immigrants.
“Here’s the problem. They’re taught that they are better than everybody else because they are Brahmin elites and yet, on some level, their country is a sh*thole,” Wax said. “They’ve realized 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 also criticized South Asian doctors at Penn Medicine, stating, “They are on the ramparts for the antiracism initiative for ‘dump on America.’”
A video clip of her comments, which was shared to Twitter on April 11, went viral with over a million views. Her comments have drawn criticism from viewers, including her own colleagues and peers.
“In which Prof Amy Wax resents that she sees all the ‘brown faces’ at Penn Medicine and wants to ask them ‘why did you come here?’” Penn Law School lecturer Neil Makhija tweeted. “Meanwhile, most were born in the U.S. and Americans all their lives. And are probably going to be the ones to treat her if she’s in the hospital.”
“Some of us Indian American docs @PennMedicine do our part to make America the great healthcare system you describe. So, yeah, we have the right to criticize it too,” Penn Medicine professor and pediatric urologist Aseem Shukla tweeted.
“This is the most despicable piece of TV I have seen in a long time,” interventional cardiologist Jeffrey Bruckel tweeted. “The outright racism is straight out of the 1950s. This needs to have consequences. @PennMEHP @upenn needs to dismiss this ‘professor’ immediately.”
Wax attracted similar controversy for her January appearance on the “The Glenn Show” podcast, where she said, “The United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.”
Dean of Penn’s Carey Law School Theodore Ruger previously condemned Wax’s “anti-intellectual” and “racist” comments and invoked a faculty review to sanction the tenured professor.
University of Pennsylvania declined to comment on her latest remarks but said that her views “do not reflect our values or practices.”
