Many people blame several American voters when avant-garde singer Jessica Sanchez was nearly booted out of the talent show, the "American Idol". Sanchez got the lowest number of votes and was asked to sing for her life before the show's judges stormed the stage and gave her her "save". Meaning, Sanchez still has one more chance to prove to America that she deserves that "save" and "adulation" given to her by the judges.
Sanchez got the lowest number of votes because she wasn't treading enough, and lacked the text votes needed to propel her to a safe spot. Her last performance, a stirring interpretation of an unknown Jazmine Sullivan song " Shuttering", did not create the overwhelming support needed for her to continue her Idol journey. Yes, she sang the song in an excellent way, and the judge Jackson was right when he said that she "slayed it". Yet, even if she did, it did not generate the wow factor that Sanchez need to continue on.
Team Sanchez forgot that Sanchez is fighting doubly hard than other contestants, simply because she and her handlers already alienated her early in the game by always asserting her "minority roots". They should have realized that fact when America voted that Korean crooner out of the show. In American Idol, there is no such thing as a Latino or an Asian vote. That is illusory. Most of those who vote in the show are true blue Americans--mostly whites. Yet, that does not mean that whites vote along racist lines.
Understanding the social composition of America is one step closer to winning American Idol. Contestants like Jessica Sanchez must understand that Americans do appreciate art and do appreciate talent. However, when that talent is claimed by a minority, do we then expect America to make that minority's choice theirs? No. Being a dominant race, Americans would like their idol to be a pure American, not a Fil-Am, or a Mex-Am or a Mex-Pinoy-Am. No. Whoever wins the title must show that he or she is American, period. And being American means respecting racial differences.
By claiming Jessica as the representative of the Filipino people doomed her chances of clinching the title. Team Sanchez forgot that Jessica is competing for the title of "American" Idol, not Pinoy idol, nor "World" idol. When Pinoys always claim Jessica for themselves, they express their own racism and alienates a vast segment of the American public. Instead of helping Jessica, these bravados or expressions of Pinoy pride harms her more than helps her. Meaning, it was not Americans who started this "racist" war but the Pinoys themselves who want to assert themselves in a society which they, obviously, do not own.
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