As the world continues to grapple with the atrocious death of George Floyd and the everyday racism people of colour experience, influencers have been attempting to find a way to express solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some influencers have shared resources and educational pieces about the BLM movement to their followers, and some have shared links to bail funds and petitions. Others have simply said to their followers they are taking the time to educate themselves on the movement before speaking out.
However, there are a select few who decided putting on makeup to darken their skin, also known as blackface, is the best way to show solidarity with the movements. These influencers have posted photos and videos of themselves to social media in makeup and wigs, playing straight into the stereotypes of black people.
An Instagram post from artist and activist Saint Hoax shows this isn’t an uncommon trend, with influencers from across the globe doing something similar.
Saint Hoax wrote on Instagram: “It’s infuriating that we still need to educate people about the racist and painful history of blackface. We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2020.”
https://twitter.com/RachLindsayStan/status/1270379506256220166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-1918714717541133956.ampproject.net%2F2005151844001%2Fframe.html
Some influencers have even gone as far as to say they wish they could be black. Many of the influencers posted photos to Instagram of themselves in blackface but took it down after receiving criticism.
