Non-black people should not spread Oprah Winfrey memes from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview – because that claims to be the “digital black face”, a non-profit organization complains.
The Slow Factory Foundation, dedicated to social and environmental justice, launched the warning on its Instagram page on Tuesday, saying that the “digital black face” is an “online phenomenon” in which white and non-black people share images of black people to and express emotion.
The variety of Oprah Winfrey’s facial reactions during the interview led to a lot of viral memes.
“Although seemingly harmless, the problem with the digital black face is that it often reinforces negative stereotypes about black people, such as aggressive, noisy, discouraged and simply here for consumption and fun,” the post reads.
The organization added: “Performing Blackness, whether it is IRL or online, is not an acceptable form of expressing reaction or dissatisfaction, especially not in exchange for appreciation and retweets.”
“Since the #MeghanandHarry interview on Oprah, we’ve seen a lot of digital crime on the black side, with some of Oprah’s GIFs and reaction images going viral, but that doesn’t mean you should use them,” Slow continued. Factory.
A popular Oprah meme shows the media mogul a shocked expression on his face, after Markle revealed that someone in the royal family expressed concern about the color of baby Archie’s skin once he was born.
Some people on social networks praised the organization for raising awareness of the “digital black face”.
“Thank you for explaining this so clearly. Very useful “, wrote an Instagram user.
“Thank you very much for that – I didn’t realize that and I will definitely pay more attention to the gifs I choose and why,” wrote another user.
Meanwhile, others felt that the Slow Factory messages had gone too far.
“Blackface is a violent and harmful representation of people of color rooted in violence. Using an Oprah gif is NOT a black face “, wrote one person.
“Images / gifs and reaction memes are universal and certainly not part of the ‘digital black face,'” said another person. “I feel it is extremely divisible. People always use reaction photos of those of another race and do not see how harmful this is. ”
The term “digital black face” has been around for years, but writer Lauren Michele Jackson popularized it in a 2017 essay for Teen Vogue.