Einstein was a racist? His 1920s travel diaries contain shocking slurs against Chinese people
Maria Puente
USA TODAY
Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist who helped decipher the universe, inspired America's atomic bomb project and famously vowed to fight racism, had some pretty racist things to say about the Chinese back in the 1920s, according to his own travel diaries.
Such as: The Chinese are an “industrious, filthy, obtuse people.”
Yes, he really said that. Wandering around China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Palestine and Spain between 1922 and '23, Einstein jotted down some of his thoughts about the people and places he encountered.
Obtuse in this case means slow learner.