Miss World America Michigan “Shut Down” Being Conservative Beliefs

In an email from the Miss World organization on Thursday, July 18, 2019, Kathy Zhu was notified that she had been stripped of her Miss Michigan title for “offensive, insensitive and inappropriate content.” In 2018, a Muslim woman tried to forcibly put a hijab on her head, but she refused, and then tweeted about it. Zhu also made comments on factual, statistical black-on-black violence and other unidentified tweets that upset the organization.

These are the text message exchanges between the state director and me. pic.twitter.com/HtHS1gns6X — Kathy Zhu (@PoliticalKathy) July 19, 2019 Archive.is

Social Media Opinions Led to Kathy Zhu’s Title Removal

Pageant executives justified Zhu’s removal as enforcement of the “being of good character” clause she signed, among others. Apparently hijab acceptance and politically correct opinions are also requirements, though unwritten of course. The pageant is a private company and within their rights to set any behavioral standards they wish, nobody disagrees. However at least they could be clear about those standards as to not subject their participants to surprises later.

Zhu replied with an email to the pageant executives concerning the hijab issue:

“What is ‘insensitive’ is that women in the Middle East are getting STONED TO DEATH for refusing to obey their husband’s orders to wear hijabs. A Muslim woman tried to FORCIBLY put a hijab on my head without my permission. I tweeted about it on my social media, and it got the attention of the media. Almost everyone was supportive of me refusing to be put in that situation.”

In text message screenshots of communications with Miss World America, State Director Laurie DeJack accused Zhu of misleading the organization by using her “Chinese first name” when she initially applied. Who is making racist statements again?

“I have a lot of stuff being thrown at me right now from Nationals office. We are going to need to have a conversation…” – Laurie DeJack, MWA Michigan State Director

Attaching a link to Zhu’s 2016 tweet on black-on-black crime, DeJack wrote, “Is this you?” Zhu wrote back, “How is that racist? It’s statistics. Didn’t know statistics were racist.”

Conservative Pageant Queen Voices Support for Kathy Zhu

Many conservative voices have expressed support for Kathy Zhu and slammed the move by the pageant executives. Justine Brooke Murray was one of the first in the pageant world to come to Zhu’s defense.

Pageantry is meant to empower ALL women to use their voices, not to shut them down. The type of censorship revealed in this alarming story is exactly what my #MAO social impact, “Don’t Shout Down, Don’t Shut Down – Let’s Talk” aims to expose.#FreeSpeech @MissWorldLtd — Justine Brooke Murray (@Justine_Brooke) July 19, 2019 Archive.is

Murray is the reigning Miss Garden State 2019 and a correspondent for Campus Reform. As part of her reign in the Miss America organization, she founded the initiative, “Don’t Shout Down, Don’t Shut Down – Let’s Talk” which aims to restore civil discourse and free speech on both college campuses and in other areas where the First Amendment is currently under attack. Her activism and reporting on campus free-speech violations recently got her invited to stand on stage next to President Trump as he signed the Executive Order on campus free speech.

In her interview with New Right Network, Justine Brooke Murray spoke on Kathy Zhu and the Miss World organization stripping her of her title a week after she received it. Murray stated, “If it weren’t for these tweets, they would have picked other tweets to shut her down for. They were really just scraping and digging for a reason to shut down a conservative woman. Pageantry has redefined itself to promote a woman’s voice – to promote all women’s voices – yet the Miss World organization made the impression that some women, some women who hold unpopular beliefs, should just shut their mouths and look pretty. So much for women’s empowerment.”

Kathy Zhu and her parents immigrated to America legally when she was five. She is an avid Trump supporter and has a history of being involved in conservative causes. Congrats to Murray for quickly recognizing the attack on Zhu and seeking to bring civility by reminding everyone to “Don’t Shout Down, Don’t Shut Down – Let’s Talk.”