The cancel-culture haters on the right are foaming at the mouth to cancel Olympic athlete Gwen Berry for having the nerve to exercise her freedom of speech while Black.
On Saturday’s The Cross Connection, Tiffany Cross lit into the people who want to cancel Berry from the Olympics. But make no mistake, if Berry had pulled out a banner declaring Donald Trump the true president or with a QAnon slogan, they’d be championing her bravery.
Cross didn’t get into the cancel culture hypocrisy but she did point out the anti-Americanism of those who think Berry is not patriotic enough to represent our country. After citing some Fox News poutrage from Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Kennedy, Cross honed in on Texas’ Senator Ted “Cancun” Cruz for responding with the “question,” “Why does the left hate America?” She reminded us Cruz is the same guy who kowtowed to Donald Trump after he called the senator’s wife ugly and suggested Cruz’s father killed JFK (not to mention Trump’s continuing efforts to undermine our democracy.)
“Berry was very clear about what she was protesting,” Cross said, and that was the national anthem, whose original lyrics made “strange references to the enslaved” and whose composer “was known to not think too highly of Black folks, calling us a ‘distinct and inferior race.’” Later, she played a clip of Berry saying “I never said I hated the country.” Her point, Berry said, was, “I respect my people enough to not stand or acknowledge something that disrespects them.”
So who’s the real America hater here? An athlete expressing her opinion or a U.S. senator trying to demonize her for it?
So, a big thank you to Ted, Danny and Kennedy for reminding us Americans can have a hard time talking honestly about our history and also for reminding us that Republicans like Ted Cruz have a hard time talking honestly about anything at all. Encouraging America to live up to what it says it is, that is probably one of the most patriotic things you can do. and we'll be rooting with our fists in the air for Gwen Berry in Tokyo.
While Cross spoke we saw graphics showing Ted Cruz’s “honesty scorecard” via PolitiFact. Let’s just say he failed that test as much as he has failed respect for the Constitution.
Nikki Haley stuck her finger in the right-wing wind, too:
Cancel culture is once again out of control https://t.co/JiWZquxdrq
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) July 3, 2021
