Edited by: Ryan McKenzie, Amelia Cantwell, and Owen Andrews
Last month, Bo French, the Republican candidate for the Railroad Commission of Texas, posted a photo of Asian American students grouped together at a University of Texas football game. He captioned the picture: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” He doubled down on his first post with another comment stating that “social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.” French’s comment insinuates that diversity in America is a threat that needs to be rallied against in order to protect our communities, and….
The worst part is that this was not the start of French’s racist comments. Last year, he posted a poll asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” with the choices being Muslims or Jews.” In addition to this, he called for deporting 100 million people, which included American citizens. These are not just isolated moments where French unconsciously made racist remarks. Rather, he is making a political statement about who he thinks belongs in America and who does not. And evidently, minorities are not welcome in his idea of the American identity.
Most of the students photographed were born in America, contradicting French’s label of them as ‘foreigners’ and showing a lack of thorough research before making that claim. He sees non-white people and immediately labels them as a foreigner, which is extremely problematic. After learning his initial comment was incorrect, French reinforced his message instead of admitting to his mistake. A completely innocuous image, one of belonging and celebration, instead became the target of racism.
But French’s comments don’t represent the entire GOP. Rather, he has received significant backlash for his message from figures across parties. Many Republican politicians have spoken out, clarifying that they do not agree with this perspective, and that messages like this are how political parties self-destruct: former House Speaker Dade Phelan called French “unfit for office.” One politician from a party can taint public perception of that party. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that one can oppose immigration policies without targeting and demeaning people based on their race. Many argue that these comments pushing for stricter immigration policy are outside his political sphere—that if he wanted to control immigration, he should have run for Congress. In response, French has simply replied that they are mad he is putting America first. State Representative Drew Darby has reminded French that his authority over the Railroad Commission depends on his ability to be fair to the people he serves. Clearly, his fairness does not extend to the minority groups he would represent in Texas.
Many of these students are second-generation and born in America. Arguing that diversity is a threat to the American image is harmful to all racial minority groups in America. Non-partisan groups have spoken out about the harm this commentary makes for South Asian Americans, noting that such comments “detach us from being American, and that’s a falsehood." Others have argued that diverse groups joining together to celebrate American college football is a celebration of American national culture, not a threat to it. Events like football games bring diverse groups together to rally and to support a bigger cause. By cherry-picking certain groups and calling them “problematic” to America, it causes tensions more detrimental than what French sees as the big “problem” here.
In addition, French disregards statistics about South Asian Americans becoming more involved in politics in recent years. The percentage of South Asian voters has increased, showing more civic and political participation among these groups. All Americans have a right to participate in the civic process, and by grouping certain people as foreigners, can be harmful to that idea that they can engage in American politics. American identity is inherently diverse and a celebration of people from different backgrounds. The students photographed are not disengaged; they are actively participating more in the civic system than before. They are simply young Americans, like many others, attending college, participating civically, and celebrating their university. It is crucial to hold political candidates and officials responsible for the messages they put out about racial groups, and also hold them accountable.It is important to celebrate the moments that bring us together as Americans, rather than criticize what such unity in a stadium may look like.