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One of the most powerful people in Congress, the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, James Comer, had two separate subcommittees holding hearings on Wednesday. Each had a witness invited by the Republican side who have been accused of racism. One of them was praised by former KKK grand wizard David Duke.
During Wednesday’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush blasted one GOP witness who admitted to saying African, Latin American, Indian, and American Indian (his term) cultures “overall are inferior to Western culture.”
Also on Wednesday, a witness who appeared before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic had written a book that was considered so racist it was the subject of a 2014 article in The New Republic titled, “The Dangerous New Scientific Racism.”
That witness is Nicholas Wade and his highly-criticized book is “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History.”
Democrats focused their ire on Wade, and on former KKK grand wizard David Duke’s praise of his book.
HuffPost senior political reporter Jennifer Bendery noted on Wednesday Wade’s book is “full of outrageous, racist claims.”
In a series of tweets Bendery made her case, and detailed the response from the Democrats of the Committee.
From NYT review of his book:
“Writing about Africans’ economic condition…Mr. Wade wonders whether ‘variations in their nature, such as their time preference, work ethic and propensity to violence, have some bearing on the economic decisions they make.’” https://t.co/1qCwkyTGoD
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
Here’s one passage from Wade’s book.
“Populations that live at high altitudes, like Tibetans, represent another adaptation to extreme environments. The adaptation of Jews to capitalism is another such evolutionary process.”
??
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
“His participation hurts the credibility of this hearing,” Ruiz says of Wade, who is sitting right in front of him as he says this. pic.twitter.com/hAXWAt0xwS
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
Today Congressman @Dr_RaulRuiz, the co-chair of the House COVID-19 committee, accused the Republicans’ Star witness, Nicholas Wade, of promoting racist pseudoscience.
Ruiz is correct.
Why did @nytimes, @washingtonpost, and @WSJ all cite Wade without mentioning this fact? pic.twitter.com/sAjjxFb0RH
— Andre Damon (@Andre__Damon) March 8, 2023
At HuffPost, Bendery writes that Wade is “the author of a 2014 book that made outrageous, racist claims about Black people being more prone to violence and Jewish people being more financially successful because of their genetic makeup.”
The Select Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), said during Wednesday’s hearing, “I was alarmed to see someone who wrote a book applauded by white supremacists.”
“I was alarmed to see someone who wrote a book applauded by white supremacists,” said Ruiz.
He came with receipts: he had a staffer hold up a giant poster featuring praise for Wade’s book from… former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. pic.twitter.com/6znKlMLG5p
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
In addition to Ranking Member Ruiz, Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), blasted Wade.
“Let me just say this personally, for a race of people who have suffered, endured and survived three centuries of slavery, oppression, deprivation, degradation, denial, and disprivilege, I’m absolutely offended that you would have the opportunity to take this platform and do anything of significance to it,” Rep. Mfume told Wade.
He wasn’t finished.
“Mr. Wade, I have read your book. And I’m appalled by it,” Mfume said. “You’re not a physician. You not a physician’s assistant. You’re not a scientist. You’ve never done a peer-reviewed paper. And yet, you’ve got an opinion, which is fine, except that it’s steeped in this conspiracy theory that somehow other minorities are so genetically different, that they are culpable in some sort of way and I just, I don’t like that at all. In your book, ‘The Troublesome Inheritance,’ you talk about a number of different things and David Duke talks about it, and says that he really endorses your position on Blacks and Jews.”
.@RepKweisiMfume to “A Troublesome Inheritance” author Nicholas Wade: “I am absolutely offended that you would have the opportunity take this platform and to add anything of significance to it.”
Wade: “I’m sorry, too, that Mr. Mfume didn’t like my book. I am not a racist…” pic.twitter.com/LiTen6MkZ8
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 8, 2023
Watch the videos and see the tweets and photos above or at this link.
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