For several days now I have stewed over something that happened in my state of Texas. I found it so repulsive that I had to take a deep breath before addressing the issue.
By now most people have heard of the racist comment posted by Republican Bo French regarding a photo of celebration at the University of Texas/Ohio State football game. The picture showed a group of South Asian University of Texas students wearing cowboy hats and the burnt orange colors of the Texas Longhorns. They were jumping up and down with their fingers waving the UT horns sign and huge smiles kit up their their faces. What should have been a beautiful tribute to the incredible diversity of the school, the state of Texas and the United States itself was tarnished by Bo French’s insinuation and lament that so many foreign looking students were taking the rightful spots of native white Texans.
The saddest aspect of his horrific remark came when other Republicans defended him or simply ignored what he had said. It pointed to something very ugly that some (not all) MAGAs under the influence of Donald Trump have not just implied but openly defended since 2016. Namely there is a large core of Americans who literally want to ship out citizens of color who on top of everything else they condemn because they are not Christians regardless of whether or not they are citizens of our country. This has been a damning moment that has revealed an ugly underbelly of thinking that we have all seen unfolding time after time after time in regards to anyone who appears to be foreign.
It has been rightfully pointed out that it is not easy for students to gain admission to the University of Texas. The school’s standards are extremely high and include a state rule that the very top students of Texas public schools will be automatically accepted. This does not mean that that their preferences in majors will be automatic as well. For many majors such as business and engineering they will have to prove their abilities during the first two years of study and only a small percent of them will be officially allowed to continue in certain programs. Those students in that photo had to have the chops to be there. They were not a group of foreigners who were given a shot over Texas residents and citizens of America they were more than likely fully assimilated Americans. They had to meet the standards of the university by merit and it seems that seventy five percent of the students at the University of Texas are part of the top tier of those graduating from public schools. in the state.
Sadly for me the point is not to defend these young students simply because they are bright and not necessarily from foreign countries but because they should not have been deemed as somehow deficient and unworthy simply by the way they look. That is racism by any definition and someone running for one of the most important offices in Texas like Bo French should be shunned for his horrific comments. Sadly this is not the first time he has said such things. His beliefs are disgusting and held by many other Republicans politicians and voters who would be happy to see all Asians, Hispanics and Muslims sent back to wherever they came from even if they are citizen born here.
I have not wanted to believe that such horrific thinking was still living in the hearts of minds of so many Americans. Many of my former students of color and even some of my work colleagues of color have warned me not to be so naive. They have told me that my whiteness has sheltered me from the truth and I did not want to believe. Sadly more and more often I have seen evidence o the veracity of an ugly kind of bigotry from far too many of my fellow Americans.
We have a major problem in the United States right now and it is not in our immigrants. It is in our White House and in far right organizations spreading hate in efforts to rid our country of anyone that does not seem to conform to their beliefs that we should be a white Christian nation. Not even all of our founders believed that and yet such thinking has been a major problem for the United States since its inception.
We took too long to outlaw slavery and endured a Civil War because of it. After the nation held there were decades before our Black citizens gained a modicum of equality. There is an undercurrent of racism that is behind ICE and those rallies that Trump holds. Many MAGAs have become bolder and bolder in their willingness to spout racist comments sometimes under the cloak of Christian nationalism. They often imply that Muslims should be tossed out of our country. They fret over the diversity that they see overtaking the United States. They want a one size fits all way of white supremacy and a form of Christianity that would puzzle Jesus himself.
I write this with a grave sadness and anger that we must address this kind of bigotry again. We fought hard to be inclusive and to value the worth of every human being regardless of whether or not they were like us. All it took was a beautiful photo of young students who did not fit the preferences of many MAGAs to light a match that revealed what has always been behind the screen for far too many Americans. Bigotry is real and I pray that we send a message to Bo French and anyone else who either agrees with him or is unwilling to spurn him by voting them out in the midterm elections. It is long past time for turning the tide to decency.
