God Bless America (but only if you’re white and speak English)

Recently, Coca-Cola launched a powerful advert celebrating multiculturalism during the Super-Bowl. The ad, featuring a rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’ sung in multiple languages, seems to have ironically divided the USA, as outraged right-wingers have criticised Coca-Cola for ‘tarnishing’ an iconic American song.

Former Congressman Allen West took his anger to Facebook, posting “The words went from English to languages I didn’t recognise… This was a truly disturbing commercial for me, what say you?” I say that the man’s bigotry is astounding, given that he’s living in the 21st century and in a country once famously described as a cultural melting pot. Unfortunately, he’s not alone.

The fact that someone can argue that an ad which promotes ethnic diversity is trying to politically divide the country boggles my mind

The fact that someone can argue that an ad which promotes ethnic diversity is trying to politically divide the country boggles my mind.  Inadvertently, I suppose the ad has divided us into people who were genuinely charmed by its message and racists who couldn’t stand the fact that other races are present in an ad glorifying a country which has depended on the success of immigrants.

What annoys me is that the media have failed in calling out conservatives on their racist bullsh*t. Weeks prior to this ‘controversy’, Cheerios launched an ad with a bi-racial family which was met with torrents of online abuse. When MSNBC tweeted “Maybe the right- wing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family”, the Organisation of Conservative Americans bullied the news group into deleting the tweet and firing the employee who launched it.

The reasoning behind this attack was that it was unfair to label a bunch of politically unaffiliated internet trolls as people of a specific political persuasion. Yet weeks later we have right-wing-affiliated pundits doing exactly the same thing! It is depressing that people are still so openly racially intolerant in a country that was founded on progressive principles and cultural cohesion.

Yet I find it even more depressing that few have the courage to take a stand against this bigotry in the USA and that those who do take a stand lose their jobs over it.

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