*A non-profit group dedicated to social and environmental justice believes white people should stop sharing memes of Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle because it’s promoting “digital blackface.”
Per NYP, the Slow Factory Foundation addressed the matter on its Instagram page, saying “digital blackface” is an “online phenomenon” where non-black people share images of Black people to express emotion.
“While seemingly harmless, the problem with digital blackface is that it often reinforces negative stereotypes about Black folks such as they’re aggressive, loud, sassy and simply here for your consumption and entertainment,” the post reads.
The organization added, “Performing Blackness, be it IRL or online, is not an acceptable form of expressing reaction or dissatisfaction, especially not in exchange for likes and retweets.”
???? Which Oprah are you in a department meeting? pic.twitter.com/jBPzy62ZF1
— PhD Loading | Déjà D. Rollins (@DRollins_) March 11, 2021
“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 Slow Factory continued.
Several people on social media praised the organization for calling out “digital blackface’ memes, while others felt the statement was doing too much.
“Reaction pictures/gifs and memes are universal and are certainly not a part of “digital black face,” one commenter posted, per the report. “I feel like that’s extremely divisive. People use reaction pictures of those of another race all the time and I don’t see how that’s harmful.”
Do you agree? Sound off in the comments.
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