NW Valley Times

Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern, R-27th, recently defend Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the wake of the court’s decision striking down affirmative action in the college admissions process.

He also referenced an alleged history of racism within the Democratic party, according to a June 30 Twitter post.

“Democrats are racist. Period,” Kern wrote on Twitter. “Margaret Sanger (Planned Parenthood founder is their abortion hero. They don’t like it when black men excel and are accomplished. They prefer to keep them in chains. #SCOTUS #KnowYourHistory #DemocratsAreTheProblem”

Kern’s post was in response to a separate Twitter post by the Arizona Freedom Caucus, which was itself a response to a Twitter user who had reportedly called Thomas a “jackass.” 

“That’s incredibly racist of you to refer to an accomplished, educated, sitting SCOTUS Justice and black American like that," the Arizona Freedom Caucus said on Twitter. "You should be ashamed. Disgusting.”

The thread started with an earlier post by the AFC that linked to and applauded some of Justice Thomas’s 58-page concurring opinion on the affirmative action decision.

It was reported seven pages of his opinion critiqued a 28-page dissent by Justice Kentaji Brown, according to a Politico report.

Kern’s reference to the Democratic Party’s history on race and Sanger, a feminist who led the country’s birth control movement, points to a darker, lesser-known history, according to a 2022 article published by the University of Chicago. 

“Sanger’s motivations behind this work (access to birth control) had dark roots in racism and eugenics, demonstrating the importance of acknowledging the dangerous rhetoric of her work,” The University of Chicago article titled “Margaret Sanger: Ambitious Feminist and Racist Eugenicist” by Abigail Shivers said. 

Shivers’ research further contends, “Many people began believing that Sanger was seeking to medically remove the African American population from the country, claiming that ‘encouraging blacks to use birth control is comparable to trying to eliminate this group from society.’”

Kern was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and elected to the state Senate in 2022, according to his campaign website. He had previously served in the state’s House of Representatives.