Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
No, you're not racist, just ignorant of the history behind the brand...and that's fine! Nobody can reasonably be expected to know everything.
That said, if you were to learn that the Aunt Jemima brand mascot was inspired by a character from a racist 19th century minstrel show, and that this character was a black mammy caricature played by a white performer wearing blackface, and that Aunt Jemima's namesake song in the show contained a lyric that called black people "monkeys", and then, after learning all that, you still thought there was nothing inappropriate about the Quaker Oats company using the Aunt Jemima branding, yeah, then you'd be racist. But if you didn't know the history of the brand, nobody can fault you for not realizing it was a negative racial stereotype until now. |
I think what I'm saying is the brand as it exists along with knowledge of the historic context is probably far more valuable to Black Americans then censorship and white washing. It may feel great to get this win, but sometimes you need something beyond the short game.