Carol Swain

Carol Miller Swain is a right-wing political activist most famous for her declaration that "Democrats are the real racists."
==The (ironically named) inconvenient truth==
Swain has done multiple videos for PragerU on the topic discussing race in the United States, examples including "The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party"The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party which argues Democrats are the real racists, "The Inconvenient Truth About the Republican Party"The Inconvenient Truth About the Republican Party which claims that Republicans are the real fighters against racism, and "Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican?"Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican? which tries to claim that The South switching from primarily Democrat to primarily Republican was due to factors other than race.
The videos in question are full of pseudohistory, primarily through simplification. For example, the first video she did says "The Democratic Party defended slavery," however, although many Democrats did defend slavery, this is a massive oversimplification of the truth. Slavery was actually rather controversial within the Democratic Party during its time, with the party dividing into multiple factions specifically over said topic.Democratic Party and Its Factions It got so bad that during the 1860 Presidential Election the Democratic Party was forced to have two conventions and ended up with two different candidates running as the nomination, one nominated by the Northern wing of the party and another nominated by the Southern wing.United States presidential election of 1860 The difference between the two candidates being that the candidate of the North, Stephen A. Douglas, supported "popular sovereignty" or allowing states to choose if they had slavery or not, while the southern nomination, John C. Breckinridge, actively wanted federal intervention to protect slavery.John C. Breckinridge
Swain goes on to say, "John Wilkes Booth, a Democrat, assassinated President Lincoln." No evidence exists which says John Wilkes Booth was a Democrat.Posts Make Unfounded Claims About Political Affiliation of John Wilkes Booth She also adds that "after Reconstruction ended, when the federal troops went home, Democrats roared back into power in the South. They quickly reestablished white supremacy across the region with measures like black codes," even though black code laws in the South predate the end of reconstruction by a dozen years.Black Codes History
In the same regard, she mentions Lyndon Johnson saying that he'll have black people (although he did not use that term, instead saying a far more offensive word starting with an "n") "voting Democrat for 200 years" despite historians agreeing no evidence exists that Johnson actually said this.Did LBJ Say 'I'll Have Those N*****s Voting Democratic for 200 Years'?
The second video is mainly Swain explaining why the Southern Strategy is a hoax made up by Democrats to smear Republicans as racist.
==Vanderbilt University protests==
In 2015, a petition sprung up asking Vanderbilt University to suspend Swain from her position as a professor due to her comments on topics like Islam and the LGBT community, which ended up getting over eleven hundred signatures.Student petition asks Vanderbilt to suspend conservative professor The petition in question listed three major issues with her, those being:
The petition goes on to ask the university for the following regarding her position:
1) To give Prof. Swain diversity training
2) To conduct an investigation into student allegations of "doxxing," or posting a student's personal information publicly in attempts to intimidate them
3) To conduct a thorough review of Prof. Swain's Facebook page to ensure it implies no affiliation with the views of Vanderbilt University.
Of specific note is also two pieces of writing of Swain's the petition felt the need to mention: Those being the 2015 articles "Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam"Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam The Tennessean and "C. S. Lewis on Biblical Marriage and Swain Reflections."C. S. Lewis on Biblical Marriage and Swain Reflections Be The People
The first piece argues that, as can be seen through the then-recent Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, Islam is not comparable to other religions such as Christianity, with Swain writing:
Even ignoring the morality of judging an entire group on the basis of its most radical induvial, the notion that the actions of the terrorists in this event do not have equivalents in other faits is just nonsensical. In 2020, a group of radical Christians firebombed the comedy group Porta dos Fundos due to its mocking of Jesus in a 2019 Netflix special.The Comedy Group That Made Brazil's 'Gay Jesus' Show Was Firebombed Vice Obviously this fails to prove Christians as a whole are unable to take part in modern western society, so why should Muslims be given an especially harsh standard?
The second piece argues that Christians need to take a stand against the legalization of same-sex marriage in response to the Supreme Court declaring it a Constitutional right and, with it, legalizing it in all fifty states.
Vanderbilt refused to suspend Swain, citing their dedication to intellectual diversity,Chancellor’s statement on online petition related to Professor Carol Swain Vanderbilt University and she retired on her own terms in 2017.Controversial professor Carol Swain to retire from Vanderbilt The Tennessean
==Fun facts==
During the 2023 Harvard University plagiarism scandal, she was one of the authors whom Harvard President Claudine Gay was accused of plagiarizing.Despite Support From Corporation, Harvard President Gay Under Fire Over Plagiarism Allegations
==References==
Category:Internalized discrimination
Category:Political pundits
Category:Right-wing activists