I wish your post went viral and was the one making rounds, every other popular post about her is “oh wow! I can’t believe Noelle is racist and thinks slavery is funny! I used to look up to her! She’s just like JK Rowling”
Thank you, and I think this speaks to the fact that what most of us are craving right now is nuance and healthy dialogue. Noelle and Rae don’t think slavery is funny. It wasn’t a “slave joke.” I chose my words in my post carefully, because implicit bias and implicit racism are real things that need to be addressed. The intention versus impact conversation and privilege conversation. Saying “this particular thing that happened/was said showed bias and racism” is much healthier and allows people to actually see what is the real issue.
White people dunking on them honestly have no room to speak because they too internalize anti-Blackness and stereotypes. Also, this kind of thing is usual for us Black folk when we interact with mainly white media/ white creators. Kind of like a Tuesday for some of us.
Also, let’s be clear. Noelle and Rae are LGBT+ creators who made a careless “joke” in poor taste (that carried implicit bias) and apologized immediately. And one of them specifically reached out to me, personally, and made it crystal clear they didn’t tolerate the harassment of Black voices or bootlicking. JKR is a literal t*rf.
I can hold space for Black folks who can’t forgive or truly do not want to support any of the crew anymore. I can also hold space for Black folks that can.
At the end of the day, I just want nuance, thoughtfulness, and spaces where Black voices are listened to and respected.
