The Slow Factory Foundation is raising awareness on digital blackface, following the influx of Oprah memes.
Meghan Markle’s and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview led to an array of opinions and reactions from many viewers around the globe. And that included the high presence of GIFs and memes too. Therefore the non-profit organization thought it was high-time to inform others about an online phenomenon that is taking center stage.
Defining digital blackface, the company explained how it is an online phenomenon that comprises white as well as non-black individuals who share GIFs as well as images of black individuals so as to get their emotions across.
Moreover, the company went as far as stating how these memes indicate all forms of ‘negative stereotypes’ that involve black individuals who are reminiscent of famous minstrel shows.
While the entire concept of digital blackface has been around for years, the term isn’t very popular with the current generation. In 2017, famous writer Lauren Michele Jackson spoke about it in an essay for Teen Vogue, published in 2017.
Slow Factory Foundation went as far as explaining to people how they should not be sharing Oprah’s reaction memes, only because of the fact that they are popular. Therefore, it also spoke about how it is also prompting away mixed reactions too.
While some went forward into praising the organization for their great efforts of educating others regarding digital blackface, others thought that it was going a tad bit too far. Moreover, they termed it to, in reality, a form of true black erasure.
For this reason, the company is forcing so many non-black people to stop sharing while issuing warnings about how much hatred and negative stereotypes are being emitted, as a consequence.
‘Performing blackness, be it IRL or even online, is simply not acceptable,’ the organization claims. In the same way, they also spoke about how users should use other means of expressing their reactions or even dissatisfaction.