First off, here’s the text:
‘Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people.
‘Because most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism. From micro-aggressions to terrorism, you guys built the blueprint for this s***.
‘Come see me when you realise that racism isn’t learned, it’s inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.
‘Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth… then we can talk.
‘Until then stay acting shocked about how the world continues to stay f***** at the hands of your ancestors and your heads that remain buried in the sand with hands over your ears.’
So, in this twisted bit of hate, racism is inherited and not learned, and it is unconsciously passed down through privilege. Bergdorf then says that “we can talk” once this is acknowledged. But if it is inherited and unconscious, then clearly there is no blame here. If it is inherited, then you may as well criticize someone for their height or skin colour…Oh, wait!?!?
And it gets worse…
After the inevitable backlash began, Munroe has pinned a Tweet to “explain” her words:
First up, let's put my words in context, as the Daily Mail failed to do so. This 'rant' was a direct response
An insider at L’Oreal said that this kind of talk was very much against the company’s message (presumably the “diversity” message, and that:
‘To drop her now would be something of a PR disaster but, at the same time, they cannot be seen to be endorsing any kind of racism or extremism. Conversations about her future are taking place.’
So, well done L’Oreal for acknowledging this. But in fairness, the warning signs of a disaster were already there. Munroe said in a Vogue magazine article, that:
“It can be alienating, to see the same images all of the time and for none of them to relate to you. In primary school… I loved Naomi Campbell and gravitated toward women of colour, even though they’d appear less on the pages than the white models.
‘It’s important to be represented, because if you just see images of white women then you start to measure yourself against a white standard of beauty, and obviously that’s not something I’m ever going to achieve, or should ever feel I have to achieve.”
This line of logic is ludicrous. To say that “women of colour” appear less on the pages than white models is just plain wrong. The problem is not the industry (although there are MANY problems), but Munroe’s location. In the UK, the vast majority of people are white; if she were in a country where the vast majority of people were not white there would be a reverse situation.
She says it’s important to be “represented”, well having white women in the pages of magazines doing modeling is EXACTLY that. It is representative of the population.
Miss Munroe, I wish you well in your career, but please learn to think before you start spouting hatred and idiocy.
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