MS NOW host Ali Velshi said he feels “deep unease” about the country’s 250th birthday celebrations, arguing America’s racial history and politics have never been fully reckoned with. He pointed to the Voting Rights Act being “effectively gutted” and to states
Ali Velshi walked viewers into the 250th anniversary season with a blunt confession: he isn’t fully buying what the celebrations are selling.
On his MS NOW show Sunday. the anchor questioned America’s “so-called democracy. ” saying the country’s “unresolved racial politics” are still shaping life in ways that anniversaries can’t soften. “Anniversaries are imperfect records of the thing which is being celebrated. ” he said. adding that in America’s case. celebrations can “gloss over the racial dynamics underlying much of America’s history and politics.”.
Velshi said he feels “a deep unease about the celebrations to which I am invited to mark the 250th anniversary of our so-called democracy.” His point wasn’t that the ideals America claims to stand for should be ignored. but that the nation hasn’t confronted what he called its “original founding sin of slavery.”.
He connected that past to the present in plain terms. “Women and Black Americans have seen their rights taken away,” he said. He pointed directly to the Voting Rights Act. arguing that it has been “effectively been gutted.” And he raised what he described as ongoing political maneuvering in the run-up to elections—specifically. that “a number of states are continuing to gerrymander their congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections. ” with what he called “the explicit effect of taking away political power from Black Americans.”.
Velshi also made room for viewers who might not know what to do with mixed feelings. Born in Kenya, raised in Canada, and a U.S. citizen since 2015, he spoke from the perspective of someone who has had to reconcile more than one identity with American life.
“If you’ve got conflicting feelings about America’s upcoming anniversary — like you want to celebrate the ideals that America strives for, which are noble and should be celebrated, but lament the state of the country — you’re not alone,” he said. “At least I’m with you on this.”
Ali Velshi MS NOW 250th anniversary America’s founding racism Voting Rights Act gerrymandering midterm elections Black Americans Women’s rights
So he’s mad we’re celebrating? weird.
I mean, he’s not wrong about the Voting Rights Act stuff getting messed with. But I feel like every anniversary turns into the same argument instead of just… celebrating?
Gerrymandering ahead of midterms takes away power from Black Americans?? I thought gerrymandering was mainly for like, Democrats vs Republicans? Not sure I’m following what he said but it sounded like a lot.
“So-called democracy” is such a loaded phrase. People say slavery was part of founding, yes, but then what, we’re never allowed to have a birthday party? Also I swear they already passed laws to fix voting rights, so why is it still “gutted” like… what exactly happened, did they repeal it or what?