A Boston University professor and CBS News contributor has met swift backlash after suggesting that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is a “white colonizer” for adopting two black children.
“Some White colonizers ‘adopted’ Black children. They ‘civilized’ these ‘savage’ children in the ‘superior’ ways of White people, while using them as props in their lifelong pictures of denial, while cutting the biological parents of these children out of the picture of humanity,” Boston University’s Ibram Kendi tweeted on Saturday in a thread.
“And whether this is Barrett or not is not the point. It is a belief too many White people have: if they have or adopt a child of color, then they can’t be racist,” he continued.
The tweets were met with swift backlash, with many conservatives and others saying Kendi’s message itself was racist.
“Ibram Kendi launches a cruel, racist attack against Judge Barrett and her family. But what else would we expect from a fraud like him?” Sen. Tom Cotton tweeted.
Others echoed Cotton on Twitter.
This is racism. https://t.co/DIRuvLCjyL
— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) September 26, 2020
1) not ACB
2) shame on you
— John Gage (@johnrobertgage) September 26, 2020
Imagine the mindset to even think let alone publicly articulate this deranged, venomous bile. Now further imagine the utterer is a thought leader who’s admired because he possesses meaningful insights about race and society. This is the situation in which we find ourselves. https://t.co/GxhETttZI2
— Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian) September 27, 2020
You are one sick person if you read that into a loving family adopting someone outside their race. Here’s a thought! Maybe they have love to give and want to help an orphaned child. Maybe you think white people should just adopt white kids? That is racist! https://t.co/wL81GcAPz7
— Carl4Congress Committee (@Carl4congressms) September 27, 2020
Please, consider adoption, as I did. Children who need loving parents aren’t “props,” or part of a political agenda. They’re just kiddos who need a loving home. ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/IKWfjPQyG4
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) September 27, 2020
These are genuinely troubled human beings. I’m not kidding. ?? https://t.co/goBQLXrFIc
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) September 26, 2020
Coney Barrett is the mother of seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti. She has been denounced by some for her Catholic faith and has met fierce pushback for being nominated so close to an election.
Some Democratic senators, such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, have said they will refuse to meet with Coney Barrett ahead of her confirmation hearing and “will refuse to treat this process as legitimate.”
“Judge Barrett’s views would harm real lives—real people—in real ways, from children with pre-existing conditions to women who just want to be able to decide when & how to have a family. I’m fighting for them,” Blumenthal tweeted Saturday.
Kendi responded to the pushback, including from some Twitter users calling for him to resign from Boston University, arguing his comments were misconstrued.
“I’m challenging the idea that White parents of kids of color are inherently ‘not racist’ and the bots completely change what I’m saying to ‘White parents of kids of color are inherently racist.’ These live and fake bots are good at their propaganda. Let’s not argue with them,” he wrote.
Kendi made headlines this summer when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donated $10 million to his anti-racist research center at Boston University.
“I’m elated,” Kendi said at the time. “You want something, you work for something, you think something could be transformative—like a major gift to the center—but you never know when you’re going to receive it. For Jack to commit to us and to trust us and invest in us, I’m still coming to grips with it.”
Kendi also previously advocated for an anti-racism amendment to the Constitution in 2019.
Kendi said at the time:
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
