Recently, the call for travel bans and excluding middle eastern Muslims has grown prominent, especially under a previous president that fueled that hatred in the country. Between 2016 and 2017 alone, there had been 306 anti-Islam attacks, rising since 2001, though since 2018, anti-Muslim crime has decreased by 28%, after the spike of 2017. What’s this a product of? Mass education and awareness.
Now, I know we can’t demand respect. It’s not a material thing to hand over. And attitudes don’t just change. So when I say to hold celebrities and influencers accountable, I don’t mean wreck their careers, mostly because that’ll never happen, but because what I want is responsibility. Not a #blankpartyisover trending on twitter for three days. That’s not about accountability. That’s about entertainment.
And there are countless celebrities, I mean for god’s sake, Beyoncé has appropriated Indian culture, could there ever be consequences for her? I’ll bet my left kidney there won’t be.
I want them to admit mistakes and try to improve and rectify mistakes while never trying to push the mistake under the rug. Cause trying sets a standard. A norm.
One example is of Jenna Marbles, who quit YouTube after her apology for her racist actions in the past. Now the difference in her apology vs others is that she improved. She took responsibility and action. There wasn’t an offense, emotional apology with three ad breaks then another offense. She admits what she did, regrets it, deleted those videos and says she wants to start over and does that.
A more recent example includes a handful of Dr. Seuss’s books that have been proven to be racist and deeply disrespectful. Is he cancelled?
No.
He’s dead and generations of children have grown up on Sam I am.There’s no use, and the excuse, of course, can be that “it was a different time then.” But his team didn’t do that. They didn’t shrug it off and pull a timeline to say “see, look how long it’s been since those books came out; it means nothing now!”
Those books, from calling Asians “slanty eyed helpers” from “countries no one can spell” to including Black and Jewish characters in derogatory roles, were pulled from publication.
Now while his work has a long and problematic history with racial and religious issues, far beyond the 6 books that will no longer be published and despite the fact that Dr. Seuss is one of the largest perpetrators of “symbolic annihilation,” the fact is, he, the brand at least, took accountability.
His personal opinions or those of his representative really don’t matter. At this point, it was enough that under fire, they decided to do the right thing. To evolve with today’s times. To look at past mistakes, acknowledge them and fix them, and go forward making work that can avoid blatant racist remarks.
Anyone can do that, with enough fingers pointing in their direction, either they rectify their mistakes or defend them, thus their character being solidified. Feigning ignorance can’t be an option, and you need to know the person you idolize.
So when Rihanna apologized for the Islamic verses in her song but then wore bindis, an amulet of a Hindu god and marketed her lingerie brand in a Hindu temple, I find it hard to respect her previous apology.
Because it was nothing.
Rihanna needs to realize she can’t apologize and do it all again.She can’t just go “aww it seems that Muslims didn’t like that, huh, let’s try Hindus today.”
And it’s not only Rihanna. Kpop has a weird fascination with Hindu gods and hymns, as do certain people on Instagram, specifically one who sexualizes them on t-shirts they sell, and when criticized, caption it “TW Blasphemy” while the comments call the gods slurs. I can’t ask them to respect the gods; they’re nothing to this person, and I have to accept that. Just like that girl who wore a kimono to her prom and called it “just a dress.” Educating someone is an uphill journey, but having consequences for actions can make a larger difference.
And I’m not belittling the centuries of pain Black people go through by highlighting Asian racism. All I’m asking is that the pain of Asians and other POC isn’t disregarded, especially nowadays. Let’s stop playing the Oppression Olympics, and realize ALL POC go through similar experiences and share similar blood-soaked pasts. Instead let’s hold people accountable. Instead of a ineffectual cancel on twitter, I want them to apologize, no matter how fake, and simply
✨never do it again✨
We’re tired. And annoyed. It takes zero effort to mind your own business and avoid hurting cultures that have spent centuries fighting to just exist.