CNN sparks controversy for publishing column saying white people posting memes of black people is ‘digital blackface’
- Writer John Blake said that white people using memes of black people was racist
- He argued the practice was equivalent to modern-day minstrel shows
- Many said he was misconstruing a commonly held definition of the term, which they said referred to white people posing as black online to perpetuate ideas
A CNN writer has sparked controversy after claiming white people who post humorous memes with black people in them are participating in ‘digital blackface.’
Writer John Blake published an article title ‘What’s ‘digital blackface?’ And why is it wrong when White people use it?’ on Sunday, and argued that when white people post memes showing black people exhibiting exaggerated behavior, they are effectively making racist jokes about them.
Blake wrote that digital blackface involved ‘White people play-acting at being Black,’ and called back to a 2017 Teen Vogue in which writer Lauren Michele Jackson said white people using memes of black people reduced them to ‘walking hyperbole.’
In his article, Blake mentioned well-used memes such as the news broadcast in which Oklahoma woman Sweet Brown declared ‘Ain’t nobody got time for that’ when recalling a fire at her apartment complex, or Tyra Banks screaming ‘We were all rooting for you!’ at an America’s Next Top Model contestant.
He wrote that white people using those memes was a modern day equivalent of racist minstrel shows. Blake’s take divided the internet, with some deriding it as ridiculous, and others agreeing with it.
The CNN article from John Blake, featuring a meme of Oklahoma woman Sweet Brown
CNN writer John Blake argued that white people using memes of black people were racist
Blake further quoted Jackson’s definition of digital blackface, who said that 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.’
‘Some may say posting a video of Sweet Brown saying, ‘Oh Lord Jesus, it’s a fire’ is just for laughs,’ Blake wrote. ‘Why overthink it? Why give people yet another excuse for labeling White people racists for the most innocuous behaviors?’
He went on to argue that such memes were far from harmful was ‘a modern-day repackaging of minstrel shows,’ an old American form of entertainment in which white actors would paint their faces black and portray caricatures of black people as being stupid and simple people.
‘Put simply: digital blackface is 21st-century minstrelsy,’ Black said.
In addition to using memes of black people, Blake wrote 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.’
Blake added it was okay for black people to circulate such images and expressions online, but that for white people it was racist.
‘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 wrote.
A common meme made from a 2010 interview with Kevin Antoine Dodson
A popular meme made from a photos of Dieunerst Collin. Blake wrote memes like it were racist
Readers were divided by Blake’s article, and took to Twitter to express their views, some agreed with the idea, but others suggested CNN was writing about it merely to stir things up.
‘I think CNN is writing this article specifically to cause a backlash from White Conservatives,’ one user wrote.
Others felt that Blake had misidentified exactly what digital blackface actually was and why it could be bad.
‘I think the worse part is that they’re not even correct about what Digital Blackface even is,’ a user wrote. ‘It’s not about posting memes at ALL, it’s about pretending to be Black online to agree with offensive, racist behaviors. CNN looks like a straight-up clown here lol.’
‘Digital Blackface has always been someone pretending to be a Black Person online and specifically using their Blackfishing to speak as a credible authority on Black issues,’ said another.
