A University of Pennsylvania professor drew ridicule online for suggesting that first responders waited too long to engage the shooter in Uvalde, Texas last week because “police didn’t give a damn” about “brown kids.”
In a since-deleted tweet from Friday, UPenn Religious Studies and Africana Studies Professor Anthea Butler — who is also an MSNBC contributor — suggested that racism was responsible for the police failure to stop a gunman at a Texas elementary school in an attack that left 19 children and two adults dead.
“So since no one else will ask, I will. Did those children die because most of them were Mexican American and the police didn’t give a damn about a school w predominately brown kids? I mean, because it’s Texas.. and if you think everyone who isn’t white is illegal..”
Anthea Butler – in a now deleted tweet from a newly locked down profile…
Disgusting
She teaches at @Penn and works with MSNBC. Big surprise. pic.twitter.com/gjhnxYglTe— 🇺🇸 Patriots Rise 🇺🇸 (@suenesbitt75) May 29, 2022
Butler — whose 2021 book “White Evangelical Racism” charges that racism is at the core of conservative evangelical activism and power — seemed to disregard the fact that the attacker in the Hispanic-majority City of Uvalde was himself of Latino descent, as were the city’s police chief, Daniel Rodríguez, the school’s police chief, Pedro Arredondo, and several other officers at the scene.
A few of the officers are reported to have had children trapped in the school at the time, some of whom died in the attack.
Butler later made her profile private following the critical responses to her tweet. However, the associate professor was not alone in her unfounded claims.
Left-wing columnist Wajahat Ali expressed agreement with Butler’s sentiments when he tweeted, “I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking this.”
I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking this. https://t.co/f0TaPXu1EQ
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) May 27, 2022
Erika Wilson, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina, concurred.
“It would be naive to believe race didn’t in some way color the response,” she wrote. “You are not wrong for asking the question.”
It would be naive to believe race didn’t in some way color the response. You are not wrong for asking the question.
— Erika K Wilson (@Erika_K_Wilson) May 27, 2022
In a lengthy thread, activist Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman — who co-founded the Sadie Collective, a group dedicated to fighting alleged racism experienced by black women in the economics field — expressed her conviction that racism undoubtedly contributed to the Uvalde deaths.
“I’ve heard from a couple of Black and Brown people that the slow response to a bunch of Latino children’s lives being endangered was intentional,” she wrote. “Honestly, racism will do that.”
“IT WAS RACISM ALL ALONG,” she charged in another tweet. “The gun violence? Racism. The slow PD response? Racism. Abbott getting his check after hearing the reports? Racism.”
“It’s racism steeped in apathy. It is the intentional disregard for Black and Brown lives,” she added. “It has BEEN reality so wake up.”
IT WAS RACISM ALL ALONG. The gun violence? Racism. The slow PD response? Racism. Abbott getting his check after hearing the reports? Racism.
It’s racism steeped in apathy. It is the intentional disregard for Black and Brown lives. It has BEEN reality so wake up. #Uvalde
— Anna Gifty (@itsafronomics) May 28, 2022
Opoku-Agyeman claimed that “these attacks are targeting communities of color IN OUR COMMUNITIES.” She continued, “the same people who arrested the parents fighting for their CHILDREN’S LIVES would have cosigned every protest against Black and Brown children integrating white schools probably.”
“And that’s why this boils down to racism,” she added.
In response to Butler’s tweet, many called out the professor’s remarks.
“They love their racism narrative so much they are willing to stand on the bodies of dead children to promote it,” wrote conservative commentator Jeff Charles.
They love their racism narrative so much they are willing to stand on the bodies of dead children to promote it. https://t.co/hcK9PCpfV4
— Jeff Charles (@JeffOnTheRight) May 28, 2022
“Protected Racist professors like @AntheaButler are reasons why @Penn continues to be a national embarrassment to an already failing city awash with 200 murders,” wrote radio host Tony Bruno.
“Slugs like her allowing men to swim as women and criminals to run amok while she foments virulent race lies!” he added.
Protected Racist professors like @AntheaButler are reasons why @Penn continues to be a national embarrassment to an already failing city awash with 200 murders. Slugs like her allowing men to swim as women and criminals to run amok while she foments virulent race lies!
— Tony Ultra Dark FJB Bruno (@TonyBrunoShow) May 29, 2022
“Believe it or not, @AntheaButler wasn’t the only person to ask that — there are other people who are equally awful and stupid as she,” wrote TV personality Chet Cannon.
Believe it or not, @AntheaButler wasn’t the only person to ask that — there are other people who are equally awful and stupid as she pic.twitter.com/QSQDxGoQOL
— Chet Cannon (@Chet_Cannon) May 29, 2022
“So @WajahatAli and @AntheaButler insist on projecting their racism onto others. Got it,” wrote former talk radio host Doc Washburn, who ran for the Republican nomination for governor of Arkansas in Tuesday’s primary.
So @WajahatAli and @AntheaButler insist on projecting their racism onto others. Got it https://t.co/D1yQd9uDv9
— DocWashburn (@DocWashburn) May 28, 2022
Legal expert Jonathan Turley highlighted how Butler — unlike her counterparts on the right — “knows that she can write and advocate without fear of university actions to remove her,” calling free speech “a privilege often exercised selectively today.”
Others on Twitter also ridiculed Butler’s claims.
“Since no one can answer… I’m sure this is what the predominantly Hispanic police force was thinking. To racists, everything is about race,” wrote one Twitter user.
“I hope that @AntheaButler is embarrassed as someone paid to teach, who espouses accusations without any facts to support her claims,” wrote another user. “I hope for the future of education that her institution reprimands her fallacious diatribe.”
“Why does @AntheaButler hide her tweets and why doesn’t she allow replies,” asked yet another user. “She’s a bigot and a coward. An elitist ‘intellectual’ that is the root of evil in ou[r] country.”
“@AntheaButler your remarks were stupid, uvalde cops and the kids were as you call them ‘Brown’! @uvalde is mostly Hispanic and a beautiful town! It’s 50 miles from Mexico!” one user wrote.
“This is the most imbecilic, brain dead statement ever made by a fool on Twitter,” another user wrote. “Uvalde is a border town. The kids are Latinos. The cops are Latinos. Almost everybody is a Latino.”
“Disgusting,” another Twitter user wrote. “She teaches at @Penn and works with MSNBC. Big surprise.”
‘“[A] a professor spreading hate to university students with no consequences! Despicable behavior and she should be fired,” yet another wrote.
Butler, who has been featured many times in the media, has a long history of racially charged rhetoric.
In October, Butler stated that white evangelicals followed the Republican Party rather than Christian scripture.
“[S]top calling evangelicals when they say they’re all about morality. They’re not,” she said. “Morality is a shield. Morality is a way for them to get power. What is good for them is not good for you.”
Last May, she claimed evangelical Christians are invariably white racists who “may end up killing us all.”
“If evangelicals don’t change, they pose an existential crisis to us all,” she warned. “They are part and parcel of the reason why we cannot move forward, because they say they have religious beliefs.”
“And because they are being selfish and because they don’t care, their racism, their sexism, their homophobia, their lack of belief in science, lack of belief and common sense may end up killing us all,” she added.
In 2015, Butler made headlines by suggesting Dr. Ben Carson deserved a “coon of the year” award.
In 2013, the professor faced backlash after calling God a “white racist.”
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
