This writer regrets to inform you that CNN is at it again — "it" being the woke conjuring of alleged racism — despite apparently unsuccessful attempts by new leadership to steer the news network back toward sanity.
Apparently, white folks, "you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism" by engaging in "digital blackface," a fringe-woke creation that surfaces from time to time but just received a big boost thanks to an apparently serious story from CNN.
On Sunday, the network ran a story online titled "What’s ‘digital blackface?’ And why is it wrong when White people use it?" by John Blake, an enterprise writer and producer according to his profile on CNN's website.
Here's how "digital blackface" was explained by Blake:
Maybe you shared that viral video of Kimberly “Sweet Brown” Wilkins telling a reporter after narrowly escaping an apartment fire, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
Perhaps you posted that meme of supermodel Tyra Banks exploding in anger on “America’s Next Top Model” (“I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!”). Or maybe you’ve simply posted popular GIFs, such as the one of NBA great Michael Jordan crying, or of drag queen RuPaul declaring, “Guuuurl…”
If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass. But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism.
You may be wearing “digital blackface.”
More formally, Blake defines digital blackface as "a practice where White people co-opt online expressions of Black imagery, slang, catchphrases or culture to convey comic relief or express emotions."
The piece goes on to quote alleged experts in such apparent racism who explain that when a white person shares a gif of Tyler Perry as Madea saying "Hallelujer!" that person is actually "laughing at exaggerated displays of Blackness, reflecting a tendency among some to see 'Black people as walking hyperbole.'" Huh?
CNN: White people posting GIFs of black people is “digital blackface” pic.twitter.com/ZNbJp0eZiX
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 26, 2023
Apparently, for white people to consume, enjoy, and share content that includes black people is "a burden that Black people didn’t ask for." Again, huh? In the left's storied history of conjuring racism where it doesn't exist, this one might be in contention as one of the most absurd because the solution is for white people to stop invoking black people and their contributions to our culture.
CNN's story goes so far as to declare that "critics say digital blackface is wrong because it’s a modern-day repackaging of minstrel shows, a racist form of entertainment popular in the 19th century." Another "expert" in CNN's rolodex explained that white people sharing content with black people "culturally appropriates the language and expressions 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."
Predictably, Twitter had a field day in response to CNN's tweet pushing the story about digital blackface.
I’d love to hear an explanation of how posting a gif or meme of a black person online is digital blackface, but a man dressing up like a woman in real life is heroic. Please explain @cnn. pic.twitter.com/fPYXF5ogDC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 26, 2023
— Mises Caucus (@LPMisesCaucus) March 26, 2023
Ain’t nobody got time for CNN’s ridiculousness pic.twitter.com/yygQTJ6StU
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 26, 2023
Appreciating people of all races is racist
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) March 26, 2023
Yep, according to "the most trusted" CNN, it's now racist to appreciate a race that's not your own, but only if you're white.
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