White people posting memes featuring black people may be guilty of “digital blackface,” according to a CNN senior writer who warned against the phenomenon, which he describes as one of the “most insidious forms of contemporary racism.”
In a Sunday CNN op-ed titled “What’s ‘digital blackface?’ And why is it wrong when White people use it?” liberal pundit and author John Blake begins by listing specific viral clips that incidentally feature black people.
“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!’” he writes.
“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!’),” he continued. “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…’”
According to Blake, if you had done so as a white individual you have potentially committed a “racist” crime.
“If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass. But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism,” he argues, adding, “You may be wearing ‘digital blackface.’”
Blake explains that “digital 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.”
“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,” he writes.
He cites a 2017 Teen Vogue essay by author Lauren Michele Jackson defining the practice as one involving white people “play-acting at being Black,” and arguing that the internet “thrives on White people laughing at exaggerated displays of Blackness, reflecting a tendency among some to see ‘Black people as walking hyperbole.’”
Digital blackface, Jackson claims, sees many white people opting for images of black people to express exaggerated emotions, and “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.”
“We are your sass, your nonchalance, your fury, your delight, your annoyance, your happy dance, your diva, your shade, your ‘yaas’ moments,” Jackson writes. “The weight of reaction GIFing, period, rests on our shoulders.”
She also admits that a white person can be guilty of spreading digital blackface without any malicious intent.
“Digital blackface does not describe intent, but an act — the act of inhabiting a black persona,” Jackson writes. “Employing digital technology to co-opt a perceived cache or black cool, too, involves playacting blackness in a minstrel-like tradition.”
“No matter how brief the performance or playful the intent, summoning black images to play types means pirouetting on over 150 years of American blackface tradition,” she adds.
While some may consider posting a clip of “Sweet Brown” saying, “Oh Lord Jesus, it’s a fire” just for laughs, the piece’s author explains that the practice is “wrong because it’s a modern-day repackaging of minstrel shows, a racist form of entertainment popular in the 19th century.”
“That’s when White actors, faces darkened with burnt cork, entertained audiences by playing Black characters as bumbling, happy-go-lucky simpletons,” he explains. “That practice continued in the 20th century on hit radio shows such as ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy.’”
“Put simply: digital blackface is 21st-century minstrelsy,” the author argues.
Citing an academic paper on how current internet language “reinforces racism,” Blake quotes Erinn Wong saying that “historical blackface has never truly ended, and Americans have yet to actively confront their racist past to this day.”
Digital blackface is wrong, Wong insists, because it “culturally appropriates the language and expressions of black people for entertainment, while dismissing the severity of everyday instances of racism black people encounter, such as police brutality, job discrimination, and educational inequity.”
Blake then describes the difficulty in defining just what exactly “digital blackface” entails.
“In trying to define digital blackface, it depends on who you talk to. The standard for some is comparable to what one Supreme Court Justice once said when asked his test for pornography: ‘I know it when I see it,’ he writes.
However, he offers the following guidance to assist: “If a White person shares an image online that perpetuates stereotypes of Black people as loud, dumb, hyperviolent or hypersexual, they’ve entered digital blackface territory.”
“And yet even with that definition, it’s hard to figure out exactly what is and isn’t digital blackface,” he admits.
He continues by quoting brand designer Elizabeth Halford, who, in attempting to avoid “digital blackface” by refraining from black memes, faces another problem:
“Those are the most effective, because White people are so boring,” she says.
The CNN writer concludes the essay by advising white people to think twice before sharing a GIF featuring a black person:
“If you are a White person who is contemplating using a ‘hold my wig’ GIF, you should consider the advice Jackson offers in her Teen Vogue essay to White people who playact being Black online: ‘If you find yourself always reaching for a black face to release your inner sass monster, maybe consider going the extra country mile and pick this nice Taylor Swift GIF instead.”
In response, many ridiculed what they perceived as a push for “segregation” on social media.
“The modern-day segregationists do everything possible to keep people divided by race, prevent them from having joyful and natural interactions, ban them from appreciating the culture and humor of others, and in general demand that they have as little in common as possible,” wrote journalist Glenn Greenwald.
“Next they’ll say you’re guilty of audio blackface for singing along to hits by black people…,” wrote conservative commentator Tim Young.
“Dear @CNN By my posting this photograph of a Black person to express a strong emotion—in this case the demand that civil rights & voting rights be granted to African Americans—am I guilty of wearing ‘digital blackface’ because I feel strongly in support of this cause?” asked science writer Michael Shermer.
“Capitalizing ‘white’ or ‘black’ is pernicious racialism that has more to do with racial apartheid than the American way,” wrote conservative activist Tom Fitton.
“CNN is essentially calling for the segregation of memes,” wrote columnist Nicholas Fondacaro.
“I’m Black and I been Black my whole life. I have never read something stupider than this ever,” wrote Florida Republican Lavern Spicer.
“I’d love to hear an explanation of how posting a gif or meme of a black person online is digital blackface, but a man dressing up like a woman in real life is heroic,” wrote radio host Clay Travis. “Please explain @cnn.”
This is not the first time white people have been warned against using memes featuring black people.
In 2017, the BBC ran a segment claiming online reaction GIFs showing black people constitute “digital blackface,” while “white people” using “dark-skinned emojis” are guilty of a “form of cultural appropriation.”
Additionally, in 2021, the non-profit organization Slow Factory Foundation cautioned white people against engaging in “digital blackface.”
The organization issued its warning about the practice following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, which resulted in new popular internet memes featuring the famed talk show host.
“Since the #MeghanandHarry interview on Oprah, we’ve been seeing a lot of digital blackface infractions with a few of Oprah’s reaction gifs and images going viral, but that doesn’t mean you should be using them,” the group explained.
The Slow Factory added that the usage of black emojis by non-black people is also an act of “digital blackface.”
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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