Former Miss Michigan speaks out after anti-Muslim, racist tweets go viral

Kathy Zhu was stripped of her Miss Michigan 2019 tiara for tweets the pageant's organizers found offensive

After Miss Michigan 2019 was stripped off her tiara a few weeks ago for posting racist and Islamophobic tweets, she is now standing by everything she tweeted on social media, despite having apparently deleted one of the posts in question.

Kathy Zhu, a University of Michigan student, had her crown taken four days after it was placed on her head last week, reported CNN. "They stripped me of my Miss Michigan title due to my refusal to try on a hijab in 2018, my tweet about black on black gun violence and 'insensitive' statistical tweets," the beauty queen said recently.

https://twitter.com/PoliticalKathy/status/917081887486734337

Despite remaining steadfast in defending the views she shares in her posts, one such share appears to have been deleted. However, a screen grab was published of the February 2018 tweet, posted when Zhu was studying at the University of Central Florida.

"There's a 'try a hijab on' booth at my college campus. So you're telling me that it's now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?" the tweet reads.

Speaking to CNN, Zhu called the hijab "a sacred garment" and likened a non-Muslim wearing a hijab to a non-Catholic carrying a rosary.
"There are so many women in Muslim countries right now who are being stoned to death because they don't want to wear a hijab... and I think we should be focusing on that.

https://twitter.com/PoliticalKathy/status/1153289060921860096

She continued on her rant. "There's so many bad things happening in Muslim countries... and their women are being crucified for not wearing a hijab and I think that's really, really awful."

Are beauty pageants really more about social responsibility? Miss World seems to think so

The beauty queen also posted a chain of text messages that she said she had exchanged with Laurie DeJack, state director for Miss World America Michigan. "Do not go out representing Michigan World America. We do have a problem," one text says.

Eventually, Zhu is told her social posts are problematic. She is provided a link to a post in which she wrote, "Did you know the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community first before blaming others."

Miss Zhu, you can hide behind words like statistics, but that's the cowards way out. You singled out blacks and only blacks for a reason, and at the heart of that reason I suspect is some form of racial innuendo. You just happened to get caught and you did the first thing that

— JORDAN PIERCE (@JORDANP92557308) July 22, 2019

"How is that racist?" Zhu asks before texting, "It's statistics" and "Didn't know statistics were racist." DeJack disagrees, according to the texts posted by Zhu. "That is not a statistic. It's a comment with no statistics to back it up."

Zhu says she will come by DeJack's house to drop off her crown and sash and accuses DeJack of believing "false claims" rather than sticking up for the state pageant winner.

Don't blame @CNN

They're not the reason you're not Miss Michigan 2019.

YOU'RE THE REASON you're not Miss Michigan 2019.

— 🆘️BRIDGETT 🆘️ (@BAS0505) July 23, 2019

"Maybe you should read a educational journal on the statistics of blacks killing other blacks... I go to school for this ... I'll save you the chance to lose this political debate. I'll be dropping off everything at your front door," Zhu says over three texts.

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