Visual Storytelling - Digital Blackface and the Harm Behind Viral Memes

The Rise in Digtial Black Through GIFs and Viral Memes

After the now-infamous CBS Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Twitter reacted with memes and Gifs to commemorate the occasion, with many using Oprah Winfrey now viral reactions as their own template.

While most memes and GIFs are created in harmless fun that can not be said regarding White people using memes of Black/African American people, most notably "Roll Safe" meme featuring actor Kayode Ewumi grinning and pointing to his temple while portraying the character Reece Simpson (a.k.a. "Roll Safe") on the web series Hood Documentary. The images are often captioned with various jokes mocking poor decision-making and failures in critical thinking. The origin of the "Roll Safe" meme happened on June 1st 2016, when the BBC Three YouTube channel uploaded a mini-documentary on the Hood Documentary series, in which the character Reece Simpson played by Kayode Ewumi is shown pointing to his head and smiling after saying that he finds a woman "beautiful" because "she's got good brains," joking that she is skilled at performing oral sex. Within eight months, the video gained over 1.04 million views and 1,300 comments.

These memes are just a long history of black face that has now gone digital. Digital blackface according to Merrian-Webster dictionary is defined as the use by White people of digital depictions of Black or brown people or skin tones, especially for the purpose of self-representation or self-expression.

It is important for White people to be aware of the harm that may be inflicted as result of digital blackface, even though a meme or Gif may appear to be a harmless trend there are real people depicted in those internet images.

"While reaction GIFs can be hilarious, when white people use GIFs of black people, it can be a form of digital blackface."
                — Megan Bigelow

Much like viral Tik Tok dances that were originally created by black creators, there is practically no mention or compensation for those behind our beloved memes that depict Black people, which is a problem in and of itself, but the implications of using viral images depicting Black people is both harmful and racist due to the history of depicting Black people as stereotypes for entertainment in mistrel shows. 

A Teen Vogue op-ed by Lauren Michelle Jackson, who was the one to popularized the term "digital blackface," Jackson, a feminist writer who teaches at Northwestern University, takes an in-depth look at the practice and its relationship to Jim Crow-era minstrel blackface. It makes the poignant statement that a white person's use of black reaction GIFs is “a more seamless transformation” than physically altering one’s appearance using blackface. The article makes it apparent that when White people use black reaction GIFs, it is dangerous because they perpetuate black stereotypes (think sassiness, anger, excitement); turn black emotions into comedy at the pleasure of white people; and let the white user “playact within those stereotypes in a manner reminiscent of an unsavory tradition.”

College student, Erinn Wong '21 penned a paper as a freshman at UC Berkeley entitled "Digital Blackface: How 21st Century Internet Language Reinforces Racism." writes that digital blackface "culturally appriopriates the language and expression of black people for entertainment, while dismissing the severity of everyday instances of racism black people encounter, such as police brutality, job discrimination, and educational inequity." Wong goes on to denounce people who aren't Black, but lean on expressions and portrayals of Black people to communicate and convey their emotions on the internet are co-opting elements of Black culture, either intentionally or not, continue to perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

While blackface was a practice that dates back to the early 1800s in minstrel shows as a way to for white actors, who would donned black face paint to play Black characters in dehumanizing and stereotypical fashion as a way to entertain White audiences, digital blackface is on the rise as a result of social media where users can easily and quickly share, retweet, and like memes depicting Black people. Thus normalizing stereotypes and caricatured depictions through social media posts. Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD, assistant professor at University of Michigan explained in a Women's Health article by Madeline Howard entitled "What Is Digital Blackface? Experts Explain Why The Social Media Practice Is Problematic" how digital blackface relates to 19th century minstrel shows.

“When you’re talking about GIFs, these are typically things that are more jovial in nature, but because of the historical roots of minstrelsy and entertainment value, to non-Black people they represent an exaggeration, rather than someone who can be an expert on something, or a leader, or anything deemed ‘serious.'"

Blackface in the internet age is becoming far too common with social media, people, particularly White people, should be more conscious when trying to find the perfect meme or GIF and instead choose one that preferably doesn't depict a culture or race that could be harm by the viral meme. Even I am guilty of using digital blackface as shown by my use of "Am I Joke to You" meme in my online class MCOM 142: Multimedia Foundations when we discussed enthymemes and syllogisms. The "Am I Joke to You" depicts a stern-looking man, actor Rapulana Seiphemo who was playing the character known as Mziwoxolo 'Tau' Mogale. The meme is a screenshot from an episode of the South African soap opera Generations: The Legacy.

Make this a learning opportunity and don't continue to use GIFs and memes of Black people. This is a small step in dismantling racism and racial prejudice, but by being willing to understand the consequences of certain actions; such as posting that meme or GIF, and then changing those behaviors for the betterment of others is an important part of ongoing anti-racist work.