Story perspectives

Sen. Blackburn's Racist TV Ad Targets China, Sparks Outcry

7/10/2026

Summary

Story summary

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) aired a TV ad that crushes fortune cookies in a Chinese-restaurant scene and uses maneki-neko to portray a fight against China.
Journalists Bill Graham, Matt Anderson and Chen Weihua called the spot sickening, a crazy choice and the most racist U.S. senator.
The ad promises to block Chinese companies from buying Tennessee land, hunt communists, and aligns with President Donald Trump, who has not endorsed it.

History

Historical Context

The Magnuson Act of 1943 repealed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, ending formal federal bans on Chinese immigration and property ownership. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation, granting citizenship to roughly 105,000 Chinese residents and dismantling a 61-year discriminatory regime. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s 2024 TV ad, denouncing Chinese companies and invoking maneki-neko imagery, revives the same xenophobic rhetoric condemned in the 1940s. The episode pressures Congress and the Department of Justice to revisit civil-rights safeguards, echoing past efforts that once expanded protections for Asian Americans.

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Story summary

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) aired a TV ad that crushes fortune cookies in a Chinese-restaurant scene and uses maneki-neko to portray a fight against China.
Journalists Bill Graham, Matt Anderson and Chen Weihua called the spot sickening, a crazy choice and the most racist U.S. senator.
The ad promises to block Chinese companies from buying Tennessee land, hunt communists, and aligns with President Donald Trump, who has not endorsed it.

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