On Friday evening, Pomona College alumnus, commencement speaker, and sitting United States Senator from Hawaii Brian Schatz tweeted in support of the New York Times’s controversial new hire to its editorial board. The Senator lent his support in a short tweet, simply stating “I’m with Sarah Jeong. Enjoy your weekend.”
I’m with @sarahjeong. Enjoy your weekend. — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 4, 2018
His support comes on the heels of a groundswell of criticism over the New York Times’s most recent hire. Jeong’s Twitter feed has a history of tweets that are racist, sexist and anti-law enforcement. Some examples include “#CancelWhitePeople,” “it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men,” “white men are bullsh*t”, and white people “are only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.” Another tweet extolled her support for the “extinction of white people”. Other controversial tweets include tweets joking about killing all men, a tweet stating “f*ck white women” and multiple instances of “f*ck the police” tweets. In a talk, Jeong has also stated that “[the worldview of white men] is why so many things suck.”
Credit: Twitter/Kyle Morris
Credit: The Daily Caller
Credit: The Daily Caller
Credit: The Daily Caller
As a US Senator, Schatz is one of Pomona’s most high-profile alumni. He was also invited by Pomona to be the commencement speaker for the college’s Class of 2017. With his status as a high-profile alumnus and previous connections to Pomona College, the Independent asked if Pomona College was going to distance itself from the Senator considering his defense of racism and sexism. At the time of publication, Pomona College has yet to give a response. Colleges across the United States such as Bucknell University and the University of Southern California have distanced themselves from high profile alumni that may reflect poorly onto the schools such as alumni accused of sexual assault amid the #MeToo movement.
Schatz’s defense of anti-white racism and sexism comes after he has denounced President Donald Trump for racism, saying that Trump is “not his president.”
As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment. This is not my President. — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 15, 2017
Schatz has previously called out Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his use of a “dog whistle” after Sessions praised the office of the Sheriff and called it “a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement.”
Do you know anyone who says “Anglo-American heritage” in a sentence? What could possibly be the purpose of saying that other than to pit Americans against each other? For the chief law enforcement officer to use a dog whistle like that is appalling. Best NO vote I ever cast. — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) February 12, 2018
On this point, even the liberal-leaning fact checking site Snopes stated that the office of Sheriff has its root in the English tradition of common law and that Sessions is factually correct in his statement.
Schatz’s prior history of calling out what he sees as racism contrasts sharply with his apparent endorsement of racism against whites. It is unclear what has caused the Senator’s apparent change of heart on the issue of racism.
As of Sunday noon, Schatz is the only US Senator, Republican, Democrat, or independent, to tweet his support of Jeong. Prominent Democrats such as Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and fellow Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono have all refrained from supporting Jeong on Twitter.
The Independent reached out to several alumni to ask if they thought that Schatz’s close connections to Pomona and role as a high-profile alumnus could damage the school’s image, especially its image as a college that is welcoming to people of all races and sexes. One Pomona alumnus stated that he did not know if the Senator’s tweet would reflect badly on Pomona’s image but did say that “this is where identity politics leads—a world where vicious racism is tolerated, even encouraged, by those with the power to create, adjudicate, and execute the law. No matter where we stand politically, such an outcome is completely unacceptable.”
Schatz is a graduate of Pomona College’s Class of 1994.
Photo: Twitter/Brian Schatz
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