![]() Put simply: digital blackface is 21st-century minstrelsy. RuPaul's colorful reactions on his reality TV series, "RuPaul's Drag Race," have spawned many memes. That practice continued in the 20th century on hit radio shows such as “Amos ‘n’ Andy.” That’s when White actors, faces darkened with burnt cork, entertained audiences by playing Black characters as bumbling, happy-go-lucky simpletons. Why overthink it? Why give people yet another excuse for labeling White people racists for the most innocuous behaviors?īut critics say digital blackface is wrong because it’s a modern-day repackaging of minstrel shows, a racist form of entertainment popular in the 19th century. Some may say posting a video of Sweet Brown saying, “Oh Lord Jesus, it’s a fire” is just for laughs. “The weight of reaction GIFing, period, rests on our shoulders.” ![]() “We are your sass, your nonchalance, your fury, your delight, your annoyance, your happy dance, your diva, your shade, your ‘yaas’ moments,” Jackson writes. Many White people choose images of Black people when it comes to expressing exaggerated emotions on social media – a burden that Black people didn’t ask for, she says. She says it “includes displays of emotion stereotyped as excessive: so happy, so sassy, so ghetto, so loud… our dial is on 10 all the time - rarely are black characters afforded subtle traits or feelings.” If you’re still not sure how to define digital blackface, Jackson offers a guide. This Tyra Banks moment from "America's Next Top Model" in 2005 became an enduring meme. Jackson says the Internet thrives on White people laughing at exaggerated displays of Blackness, reflecting a tendency among some to see “Black people as walking hyperbole.” These expressions, what one commentator calls racialized reactions, are mainstays in Twitter feeds, TikTok videos and Instagram reels, and are among the most popular Internet memes.ĭigital blackface involves White people play-acting at being Black, says Lauren Michele Jackson, an author and cultural critic, in an essay for Teen Vogue. But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism.ĭigital blackface is a practice where White people co-opt online expressions of Black imagery, slang, catchphrases or culture to convey comic relief or express emotions. If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass. ![]() Or maybe you’ve simply posted popular GIFs, such as the one of NBA great Michael Jordan crying, or of drag queen RuPaul declaring, “Guuuurl…” Perhaps you posted that meme of supermodel Tyra Banks exploding in anger on “America’s Next Top Model” (“I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!”). Maybe you shared that viral video of Kimberly “Sweet Brown” Wilkins telling a reporter after narrowly escaping an apartment fire, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” ![]()
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