Last week, as outrage as over Donald Trump’s comments about Mexican “rapists” hit a fever pitch, former Miss Colorado USA Marybel González, who just happens to be Mexican-American, composed an open letter to the presidential candidate and Miss USA owner that she signed, “A very Mexican, not rapist.”
Read the full letter below:
@RealDonaldTrump One individual’s views is not indicative of an entire organization. Miss USA is comprised of intelligent, and socially conscious professionals. I am not taking a stand against @MissUSA or @MissUniverse. Rather, I want to make clear that racism and cultural exclusion is not what I condone. That said, I am torn by the decision @Univision has made to cut @missusa from their programming. The better part of me applauds Univision’s conviction in not supporting an organization co-owned by someone who voices such vicious and racist remarks. Another part of me, however, feels utterly sad and disappointed. As a former Miss Colorado USA, I know how important it was for me to represent not only my beloved home state, but also my Mexican culture. Your actions will deprive other girls like me the opportunity to represent a minority publicly, to give us a platform in which we can share our rich culture and background with the world. I am sad that other young Latina girls who are @Univision viewers will not have the chance to see another girl on TV that looks like them, one that they can relate to and aspire to be…. When I watched your ill worded and completely erroneous speech, the only thing that resonated with me was the level of ignorance in your words. You say that Mexicans who come to the USA are all rapists. However, your argument is not only unsubstantiated but also completely hypocritical. See, a rapist is “one who abuses something or treats something improperly.” A rapist is a violator, and exploiter to be more precise. When you singled out a community and ignorantly generalized a population for the benefit of your campaign, you committed the worst exploitation. When you belittled the people of a country for the sake of a vote or an applause you acted in an unjustly manner to benefit your needs. Further, when you now negate other girls the opportunity to be present and heard in a public forum you are blatantly robbing them… if I am a rapist by the simple fact of being Mexican, then what do these actions speak of you? Sincerely, Marybel González A very Mexican, not rapist, Miss Colorado USA 2012, Top 10 Miss USA finalist.
A photo posted by Marybel González (@marybelg_) on Jun 25, 2015 at 8:17pm PDT
In the days since, both Univision and NBCUniversal have severed ties with Trump, leaving the annual beauty pageant to be picked up by the little-watched Reelz Channel.
González joined CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Thursday afternoon to explain why she wrote
the letter and to share her thoughts about Trump’s continued insistence that there is nothing wrong with categorizing Mexicans as “rapists.”
“I think this is something that Donald Trump is not recognizing, the dangers in his words,” she said. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump, I’d like to tell you that rape and crime are things that happen in every country, to all differnt types of people and crime and rape are not things that are committed by one group or one specific culture. So, I guess you generalizing yet again has dangerous implications and it’s completely erroneous.”
“You are proliferating discrimination. You are encouraging people to use hateful comments against a certain minority and that, to me, is incredibly wrong, dangerous and just irresponsible,” González said later. “When you talk about people in this certain discriminatory manner, you are advocating for racism. And that transcends just talking about Mexican people, that talks about women, minorities, people of all different cultures and that to me is something that I will not waver on and I’m sending a message to him that hate is not something I subscribe to.”
Watch video below, via CNN:
[Photo via screengrab]
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