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• 24 Apr, 2022
• 5 comments

University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax made headlines and sparked outrage recently for claiming that Black and Asian people resent “Western peoples’ outsized achievements” on Tucker Carlson’s Fox Nation show. Wax, who has a history of racist remarks, told Carlson she thinks “there is just a tremendous amount of resentment and shame of non-Western peoples against Western peoples for Western peoples’ outsized achievements and contributions.”

Citing instances where people of color called out racism, as she did, is not proof that we resent “Western achievements” but that there are systemic inequalities in the U.S. 

While Wax is entitled to her opinion, at a time when racial tensions already run high and racist attacks have risen sharply, her rhetoric is irresponsible, problematic and, at its core, actually very inaccurate.

 Black and Asian people do not resent Western achievements. Why would we resent something that we have contributed significantly to?

Historically, the U.S. has relied heavily on the labor of people of color and immigrants for its economy. Enslaved Black people were responsible for the growth of America’s economy in the 19th century. Slavery has been called the economic engine of the South, which at one point was the source of the majority of cotton used in Britain, France and Russia. By the start of the Civil War, the South was profiting handsomely from the labor of enslaved Black people.  

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