5 OPINION Thursday, July 25, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com OPINION SAMANTHA DELLA FERA | COLUMN I t’s been a busy July. In one of the hottest months in recent memory, it’s no surprise that tensions and hot button stories are boiling over. From Hollywood to the White House, people are getting angry. Too often, that anger has been directed at people — particularly women — of color. At the beginning of the month, Disney announced Halle Bailey as the actress playing Ariel in the live-action remake of “The Little Mer- maid.” Many thought Bailey, a young, talented R&B singer and star on the show “Grown-ish,” was the perfect choice to play the coveted role of Ariel. Oth- ers quickly pointed out what they deemed to be an unaccept- able attribute: She’s Black. Fol- lowing what should have been a career-making announcement for Bailey, critics jumped at the opportunity to accuse Disney of erasing the true story of Ariel. In a since-removed change.org petition, many people signed their names in support of a recast of Ariel. Because these signators can believe that a mermaid exists and has a crus- tacean best friend, but having to watch a movie with a Black woman in it? That’s asking just a bit too much of them. Of course, the criticism of Ariel’s casting is coming from a place of racism. Unlike the sto- ries of Pocahontas or Mulan, Ariel’s race is of no importance to her story. Her story is about having your voice stripped away from you, being misheard and misunderstood. Coming from that angle, there is no one better to play that role in 2019 than a Black woman. Thank- fully, most of the backlash to the casting was discovered to be trolls, and it has mostly died down. That brings us to now. It’s the middle of July, in the midst of a noticeable chasm in Democratic ideology, and all eyes were on a publicized spat between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and junior Con- gresswoman Alexandria Oca- sio-Cortez. The trouble started after AOC and “The Squad” — the nickname given to the foursome of AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — voted against a House bill to send funds to the border that they saw as writing Immi- gration and Customs Enforce- ment and Border Patrol agents a dangerous blank check. Never one to stay out of the spotlight, President Donald Trump tweeted that “Progres- sive’ Democrat Congresswom- en, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catas- trophe, the worst, most cor- rupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a func- tioning government at all)” should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Though the women were not named, it is clear that Trump’s tweet was directed at “The Squad,” a group com- prised of all women of color who have been vehemently outspoken against Trump since the beginning. The tweet obvi- ously caused a storm of back- lash, as the “go back to where you came from” trope has deep, racist roots. Since then, Trump has tweeted more dis- gusting things, and the House voted to condemn his words, though many Republicans were appalled that Pelosi called the president’s words racist. So what do these two things, Ariel and Trump’s tweets, have in common? The fury at a Black Ariel and the racist language of our president, coupled with the support of his party, are one in the same. It’s an anger that has manifested in parts of America towards seeing people put in positions where they allegedly don’t belong. It is no surprise that Donald Trump is a racist: He has been proving it since the 1970s. Yet people are constantly surprised that the people who back him just don’t care. But of course they don’t care, because they agree. Trump was recently asked if it concerns him that people saw his tweets as racist and white nationalist groups are stand- ing by him. He said, “It doesn’t concern me because many peo- ple agree with me. And all I’m saying — they want to leave, they can leave.” Republicans didn’t leave in the eight years they spent hat- ing Barack Obama, questioning his citizenship and blocking every action he tried to take, and Democrats aren’t going to leave now. It drives Trump and his backers crazy to see Hispanic, Black and Muslim women in Congress, because they don’t think these women have a place in the govern- ment. People don’t want a Black Ariel because it feeds into their white supremacist narrative that they are being replaced or cast aside. We have to stop dancing around these outbursts by labeling them as “racially charged” or “politi- cally motivated” — they’re just racist. To beat around the bush is not to declare that the prob- lem exists, which only allows it to grow and hide behind the cover of politics as usual. Call it out — on the House floor, in movies, wherever it needs to be heard. The Trump presidency will end, but the stain he left on this country and the fires he’s reignited will burn on. Now’s the time to start stamping them out. Anger towards Ariel and AOC are one in the same Samantha Della Fera can be reached at samdf@umich.edu. EMILY CONSIDINE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT EMCONSID@UMICH.EDU Family 20 questions JOIN THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD Come meet with our Editorial Board to contribute to the conversation and discuss current events on campus. Editboard meets on specific Wednesdays from 7-8:30 p.m. in the newsroom, 420 Maynard St. Contact the Summer Editorial Page Editor, Erin White (ekwhite@ umich.edu), with questions about how to get involved. The criticism of Ariel’s casting is coming from a place of racism. JOIN THE OPINION SECTION Applications for Fall Opinion Positions will be opening soon — contact Editorial Page Editors Maggie Mihaylova (mmihaylo@umich.edu) and Joel Danilewitz (joeldan@umich.edu) for more information.