As Arizona experienced record high hospitalizations for the virus, President Donald Trump's campaign packed thousands of maskless young people into a megachurch in Arizona for a 'Students for Trump' rally.
In addition to giving an address, the President introduced an array of college students and young adults who voiced their support for Trump from the podium.
One of those speakers was Reagan Escudé, who—as she spoke to a crowd of thousands after an introduction from the President of the United States—lamented that she was a victim of so-called cancel culture.
But it was the cancellation of another recognizable figure that's getting her speech attention.
Watch below.
“Aunt Jemima was canceled… She was the picture of the American dream. She was a freed slave who went on to be the face of the pancake syrup." -- A student at Trump's event on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/jgONhiXiza
— Peter Wade 🤦♂️ (@brooklynmutt) June 24, 2020
Escudé was responding to the recent move from Quaker Oats to rename and rebrand Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. The Aunt Jemima persona—which originated from a minstrel song—has been under criticism for decades for perpetuating racist stereotypes.
She said:
"Aunt Jemima was canceled. And 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 we love and have in our pantries today."
Nancy Green was hired in the late 1800s by the R. T. Davis Milling Company to play Aunt Jemima in radio and in-person appearances. Known for the phrase "I'se in town, honey!" advertising these appearances, Green would tell stories glorifying the old South and making pancakes in demonstrations.
Green was offered an unconfirmed "lifetime contract" and used whatever earnings she made from the Aunt Jemima character to fight poverty in her community, but despite thousands of appearances and merchandise bearing her likeness, Green was still working as a housekeeper when she died in 1923. Her grave went unmarked for over 80 years.
Quaker Oats said it wouldn't fund a monument for Green.
According to Bronzeville Historical Society President Sherry Williams:
"[Quaker's] corporate response was that Nancy Green and Aunt Jemima aren't the same — that Aunt Jemima is a fictitious character."
Nevertheless, Escudé appeared to equate Nancy Green and Aunt Jemima as one and the same.
People took issue with her reductive portrayal of Aunt Jemima and the American Dream.
@KwikWarren/Twitter
Wtf! Where do these people get this information. Why on earth would we African Americans claim “Aunt Jemima" as our american dream. Omg. What is this girls name? I don't want to cancel her I actually want to educate her. But probably be a waste of time. Sigh
— Christina Redd (@magardino_redd) June 24, 2020
What part of being a slave was in any dream? https://t.co/d1eJEgMDx2
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) June 24, 2020
“Aunt Jemima. An example of the American dream"
We really live in two different Americas
— Casamiga (@Kitranada) June 24, 2020
The American dream?!? Trust me on this one,there has never been a Black family that has told their daughter "go out there and become Aunt Jemima". pic.twitter.com/hpltiW0FGF
— Victor Steele (@BlackHannibal) June 24, 2020
Aunt Jemima & Uncle Ben were the dreams of American white supremacy - Black people ready to serve the masters. https://t.co/PXDzm9KVkP
— Carl Dix (@Carl_Dix) June 24, 2020
People also insisted that Nancy Green deserved better than Escudé's idea of the American dream.
Nancy Green was hired to depict a “mammy" archetype and advertise #AuntJemima which was a character named after a minstrel show song...Despite Green's “lifetime contract", she worked as a housekeeper until her death, I doubt that was an “AMERICAN" dream for Nancy Green! 🤦🏾♀️😒🙄 https://t.co/wo9VkzLL3g
— Toya Johnson🦋 (@ToyaBK79) June 24, 2020
Couple things:
The brand and character were created before they hired Nancy Green to promote it. Very easy google search.
This attempt at an inspiring anecdote implies that the American Dream begins with slavery. Still. https://t.co/5DDF7XVAkZ
— The Great Blacksby (@TommyThickles) June 24, 2020
Sweetie, you might be the dumbest child on earth. Do you seriously believe that Nancy Green lived the American Dream by having her likeness on a Syrup bottle? She received zero compensation and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. That's the American Dream?
— Chi-Town Char (@locations131) June 24, 2020
This isn't about Nancy Green or the “American Dream." Green's family is STILL trying to get the wages that were due to her before she died. This is about this broad's fantasies of a subservient black woman cooking in her kitchen being crushed because Aunt Jem ain't on the box.
— Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers (@sejr_historian) June 24, 2020
So far, Escudé doesn't appear to regret her comments.