Fine, I’ll bite. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.
If a black guy told a white guy in a black community that the white guy is “white on the [outside] and black on the inside”, how would you interpret it? Why interpret it differently when the races are reversed?
To put this in the same context as what the author was conveying this scenario would have to take place in a predominantly Black country where political and economic power belongs to the Black people and the standards of excellence and beauty are defined by Black people. A white person, who is part of the minority, is told by a lot of his Black peers that he is “white on the outside and black on the inside” meaning he is not like those other white people that they find unacceptable as peers. On the other hand, his white friends call him a Snoball, a Hostess treat that is white on the outside and brown on the inside, because they consider him to have given up part of his identity in order to be accepted by Black people. This is demeaning from both sides, as he is only accepted by the Black people because he acts like them, and he is derided by white people because he acts “Black”. In this scenario, which adequately mirrors what the author is getting at, I would agree that the white person being called a Snoball here is rightly justified in being insulted and feeling hurt because they seem to be in between two worlds and not really accepted by either.
You provided what you considered to be the reverse scenario but you failed to consider all the societal factors that contribute to it. Hopefully this example I provided will suffice. If it does not, nothing will. I’m sure you’ll feel just fine if a white person told you, “You’re ok, not like those other brown people.”
What proof do you have that the joke about the monkey had racist undertones? How do you know that the reason the BBC broadcaster didn’t post that because of how they looked like a couple with a child, for example? What proof do you have that isn’t the actual reason he posted that?
Again this shows you couldn’t be bothered to read the article I linked to or do 10 seconds of googling to get more info. But here we go.
There is along history of comparing Black people to apes or monkeys. I find it odd that you don’t know this or didn’t at least gather it from the article. And still happens way too often to dismiss. And there is no way to excuse this behavior as anything but RACIST AF!
Football fans are being racist AF when they throw bananas at Black players.
Hockey fans are being racist AF when they throw bananas at Black players.
People are being racist AF when they throw bananas at Italy’s first Black prime minister.
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, wife of Prince Harry, is half Black. This has been quite controversial for the royal family. Surely, even you can imagine this, even in 2016. The royal family is a white institution. And even though most would see their marriage as a progressive step, there are still a lot of people not pleased with it, and they haven’t held back at all. She has had to endure quite a bit of racist and sexist attacks since they were married, and it certainly didn’t get any better when they decided to step back from their roles as royals.
So to post a picture of a couple with a monkey suggesting it’s the child of Meghan Markle, who until recent history would just be considered a Black woman, IS RACIST AF! I have no proof of the intention of Danny Baker in posting that picture, but focusing on intention downplays the impact on the people being hurt by bad actions. It still bothers me to this day that I allowed some of my white friends affect me this way in high school.
To put a black child in a shirt that reads “Coolest monkey in the jungle” in a advertisement was most likely not intentionally racist. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t invoke the sentiment of racism. And like I said, for an international brand, someone should have known better and caught it before it was published. Just like YOU should know better.
I explained why I believe what I do, I’m just asking you to do the same. I’m not sure how you don’t see this as a request for criticism.
It’s not a request for criticism. I criticized you from the start. You’re just being lazy and obtuse in insisting I answer your questions. I thought you were trolling me because I found it hard to believe someone who clearly is educated and has access to the internet could be so naive about these things. You say I have “no intention of even considering the opinions of others” when you just keep brushing aside anything I write and then you dare to call me a hypocrite. Nothing you have written is anything I haven’t heard a thousand times from other people.
