Trump Rally Student; Aunt Jemima, the "American Dream", Cancelled; Falsely Claims she was Real

by Kara Machowski

Trump's Phoenix Rally on Tuesday has been met with much skepticism. Not only did the president choose to focus on injustices and oppression that is being done to far-right and anti-Black Lives Matter citizens. He negated to mention the seven lynchings that took place during the last few weeks and instead focused on a far-right movement "Cancelled Culture". The president had a few guests, but one in particular is receiving a lot of flack for her subject on the "Cancel Culture" movement was the retraction of the "Aunt Jemima" mascot for Quaker Oats syrup and displayed the most naive and false statement about Aunt Jemima being a picturesque representation of the "American Dream".

Sparkly and bubbly Reagan Escudé, Turning Point USA ambassador and student at Northwestern State University of Louisiana took to the podium. She spoke about how she was recently brought to such emotional disdain to Christian pastors kneeling in respect to the Black Lives Matter movement and few who asked to be forgiven for ‘being born white’. Reagan was so astounded by these actions that she took to social media to express herself in a video that ended up going viral expressing how Black Lives Matter is anti-Christian and subsequently lost her job.

Escudé went on to say that her problem was a small blip in retrospect to the Cancel Culture Movement. What she said next has gone viral and is a complete example of how a person cannot understand another person’s idea unless they’ve lived in that person’s shoes. Escudé stated,

“Aunt Jemima was canceled. If you didn’t know Nancy Green, the original first Aunt Jemima, she was a picture of the American dream. She was a freed slave who went on to be the face of the pancake syrup that we love and have in our pantries today. She fought for equality, and now the leftist mob is trying to erase her legacy.”

For many, the signature bottle filled with warm golden, brown syrup was a representation of our childhood, a feeling that Quaker Oats and Pepsi benefited from for years. But for many within the colored community, Aunt Jemima was used as a racial slur. From women in the kitchen being called “Aunt Jemima” to screams within restaurants from disapproving patrons. One key point made on CNN Wednesday afternoon was that African American women didn’t want to be called that and they didn’t want their kids to be called Aunt Jemima. But this is a concept that Escudé doesn’t understand and isn’t willing to grasp.

Not only is Escudé's statement obtuse, the idea that the American dream ever should ever involve slavery, but "Aunt Jemima" was a brand before they "hired" freed slave, Nancy Green. Instead the brand got its name from the minstrel song “Old Aunt Jemima”, Chris Rutt, the proprietor of the pancake flour heard the song and felt it represented the Southern “Mammy”, another racial stereotype and created the brand in 1889. Nancy Green was a former slave who had already made a name for herself and appeared at Chicago's 1893 World's Fair while she promoted Aunt Jemima's syrup and acted as a judge, years after the original brand was created and manufactured and even sold by Rutt to R.T. Davis Milling Co..

The claim that Nancy Green became the branded face is true, but the real Nancy Green didn't become a millionaire ambassador like many in favor of keeping her likeliness at the syrup's image, she died after working as a housekeeper for many years. While working at the World's Fair she was told to relay "fantastical stories" about being the cook on a beautiful plantation and her found memories of serving her delicious pancakes there. Many of us who are familiar with stories from slaves in the time of slavery, there was nothing magical about it. She wasn't an entrepreneur and she wasn't treated the way that was portrayed in Escudés statement.

One artist's representation of the face of Aunt Jemima a photo of a "jolly" looking slave holding up a stack of pancakes in a kitchen, handkerchief tied around her head and her right leg chained to the table. Not so jolly and comforting is it?

This display of uninformed thinking and speaks to the ignorance that exists in the opposing parties of Black Lives Matter.

#BlackLivesMatter #AuntJemima #CancelledCulture #ReaganEscude #ReaganEscudé #CancelAuntJemima #CancelWhiteJesus #ChristainBLM #BLM #TrumpRally #PhoenixRally