Republican candidate Shelley Luther and “hero” of the anti-lockdown movement Shelley Luther has said Chinese students should not be allowed to enrol at Texas Universities.
“Chinese students should be BANNED from attending all Texas universities,” Luther said in a now-deleted tweet. “No more Communists!”
In a follow up tweet on Wednesday, Luther enclosed a letter titled “Shelley Luther stands firm: Chinese nationals should not be educated at Texas Universities.”
“China is the greatest threat to Liberty in the world,” the letter reads. “If we are going to offer international students the opportunity to study at our prestigious Texas schools, we should not be training the next generation of Chinese Communist Leaders.”
Luther then equated Chinese students to Hitler Youths: “Bringing Chinese nationals into our schools and training them is the same as bringing Hitler Youth members into our schools in 1936.”
On Friday, state Rep. Gene Wu condemned Luther’s comments and demanded her apology.
“Luther’s statements are ignorant, hateful, and incite violence against not only Chinese Americans, but all Asian Americans,” Wu said in a statement.
“To casually conflate all Chinese students in America with actual registered members of the ruling party in the People’s Republic of China is not only ignorance of an extreme nature, it is also the type of rhetoric that drives anti-Asian hate crimes.”
Twitter users were also not impressed by Luther’s letter.
“What’s next? Should they be using different water fountains, separate bathrooms, sitting in a designated area on buses?” One Twitter user said.
““Stands firm” is a very polite way to say “stands by tweet she deleted herself because it was super racist.”” Another tweeted.
Luther is challenging state Rep. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, in the March primary for House District 62.
The salon owner found herself in the public eye at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 when she refused to shut down her business. She was sentenced to a week in jail but was released after a few days.
— Shelley Luther (@ShelleyLuther) January 11, 2022
