Prof claims Brexit motivated by racism
A women’s studies professor at Rutgers University says that white racism is to blame for the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union in a referendum last week.
Brittney Cooper, an Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, tweeted her feelings early Friday morning as it became clear that the Leave campaign won the national EU membership referendum, Hypeline reports.
“The only thing I know that makes white folks vote against their own economic interests is racism. #Brexit,” said Cooper, who goes by @professorcrunk on Twitter. It was retweeted over 500 times and received over 700 likes, though it seems that Cooper has since removed the tweet.
“White nationalism gone be the death of us all. #Brexit” Cooper wrote in another tweet.
Cooper, who is African-American, also retweeted a number of posts celebrating the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold an affirmative action admissions standard at the University of Texas.
The posts, which made fun of the white woman who sued the school when she wasn’t accepted, featured phrases like #Beckywiththebadgrades. Becky is a name sometimes assigned to all white women in a derogatory manner.
Earlier this year, Cooper wrote an article for Cosmopolitan claiming that when an African-American boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, people blamed the mother for the accident due to racism.
Cooper received the Olga Vives Award at the National Organization of Women annual conference this past weekend in Washington, D.C.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @RiersonNC
