Rutgers professor Brittney Cooper suggested Sunday that the arrest of a WNBA star in Russia was a Kremlin plot to stoke racial unrest among Democrats.
THE QUOTE
Cooper, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies and Africana studies, seemed to speculate in Twitter thread that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the arrest of Brittney Griner on drug charges last month in an effort to undermine black women’s support for Ukraine’s defensive war against Russia.
- “Putin is diabolical. He knows Biden’s Democratic party base is Black women. He knows we are gonna be up in arms about Russia detaining Brittney Griner, that we will demand the U.S. get her back here. Even as we are unified against his imperialist invasion of Ukraine,” Cooper said.
- “If y’all don’t think Black women’s bodies and lives are always dividing line between democracy and fascism, here is Exhibit A. Jesus. How will this problem be solved?”
In 2019, Cooper drew attention for arguing time is racist,
SAME ENERGY
Cooper has not been alone in viewing the Russia-Ukraine war through the lens of American racial politics.