As my granny used to say, “We can’t have shit to ourselves.”
White people using black and brown emojis has been a thing for a while now, and one lady wrote me an email asking me to address why that practice should be seen as wrong.
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In this episode of Auntie Unfiltered, I discuss the importance of representation and why non-black people using black emojis is not a show of solidarity—not the least of which is, why would you pick such a lazy way to show “solidarity”?
Watch the episode and let me know what you think in the comments.
And remember, I want to hear from you! Please email me at auntiesubmissions@theroot.com to ask for advice or give me a heads up on other topics you think would be good for me to cover.
DISCUSSION
As a black woman and auntie who is of a certain age, I get it. I also was over the moon thrilled when I could finally get a black Barbie doll (at the time she was named “Christie”), when I could finally see a magazine that featured models and people who looked like me (hello Ebony, Essence and Jet) and for the first time saw a pretty dark-skinned black woman on TV with her own show (hi “Julia”). Today, just like back then, it is important for us to see ourselves represented in the “main stream,” because while we know that we matter, it’s good for us to see ourselves reflected as part of the norm in the society that we live in.
When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I couldn’t put into words the feeling it gave me; knowing that my black son will grow up to with the memory that a black man was the President of the United States during his childhood. He grew up seeing a man that looked like him in the white house, so,unlike when I was a child, to him the idea of a black man being president, being a powerful figure is the norm. It’s not a hope or a dream, it’s reality.
So, I get it. Representation matters.
With that said, I don’t feel a type of way if white people want to use black and brown emojis. Maybe white people aren’t trying to show solidarity with black and brown people by using black and brown emojis. That might not be their intent at all. Maybe white people use the black and brown emojis because the black and brown emojis are cooler (they ARE), or because they look better (they DO), or because they just want to. *shrugs*
Sure, there may be SOME white people who think it’s hip or woke or whatever to use black and brown emojis because there’s always going to be that element who will think that way. Still, I believe that for the most part there’s no underlying motive or agenda behind it. So I’m “meh” about this issue.