A RESPONSE TO MY PAST, TODAY’S PRESENT, AND TOMORROW’S NEXT CULTURAL CONTROVERSY
Like everyone else right now, between binge watching everything in the depths of my Netflix queue, working from home, and staying sane, I’ve been trying to keep busy during these uncertain times. As of now, I’ve been quarantined for what feels like anywhere between one month and five years. While there's no end in sight quite yet, I wonder when, if ever, things will be back to “normal.”
One of my most frequented pastimes these days is watching Youtube videos in a way I never have before, binging if not embarrassingly so. Recently, YouTube recommended a video titled “let’s talk about “black outrage” …” posted by youtuber Amandabb. While I had never come across her channel before, clearly Youtube knows me well because I had to bite. The content creator defines the black outrage through examples, most recently a controversial video and series for tweets from the influencer Nikita Dragun, but also by one of the movement’s most obvious and blatant offenders, Kim Kardashian. When discussing the latter, Amanda noted that “as we become more self aware of this cycle that she constantly does, because it’s like clockwork, we’ve started to ignore her. Since we’ve started to ignore her, Kim’s had to resort to much more desperate cues than just appropriating a black hairstyle [which she discusses earlier in the video] and that’s where we get the Diana Ross cover,” referring to the 7HOLLYWOOD magazine cover the Kardashian did in late 2019 when critics called her out for in their opinion, being in blackface.
In the realm of internet hierarchies, black outrage can be thought of as a manifestation of cancel culture. Outrage marketing itself has been going on for decades, being formerly known as “shock advertising”. Black outrage marketing specifically refers to the targeting of black people as an audience for a problematic product and/or brand that will most likely be received as offensive, and the response that follows it’s launch and/or release. Often, this response is most prominent online and through social media. Note, that while black people might be the audience of this form of marketing, they don’t have to necessarily be the marketer’s target consumer of the brand and/or product. Is it genuinely possible that at this point brands and influencers truly feel that “Any press is good press?”
Amanda’s video got me thinking about the concept of “black rage” and my stance. In late 2018, I had written an article titled “I Have Black Female Rage, What Does That Mean?”. In essence, the piece was a self-reckoning as I wondered how to deal with my cultural schizophrenia as a young, angry, black, woman. Thinking back, I remember feeling sheepish about pursuing getting it published, for fear that not many would take the time to ponder over the reflections of a young “angry black woman” in earnest.
While I realized a long time ago that excessive “black outrage” doesn’t seem to be doing anyone or anything any good (beside a good laugh and meme here and there), it’s still clearly a conversation worth having as companies and influencers alike who shape our culture haven’t seemed to stop pursuing this exploitive and harmful marketing strategy. Haven’t we already learned that those who are most privileged usually aren’t affected by cancel culture regardless…? Haven’t they learned that real people of color everyday are impacted by the damaging content and products they produce…?
As I think about how we are being exploited and capitalized on by brands who genuinely could care less through this method, it encourages me more to pursue thoughtful activism in different ways. While anger and outrage are both valid, understandable, and have their places in social discourse, maybe it would be a good thing if things didn’t go back to “normal”. At least for me and at least when it comes to the topic of “black outrage”. Do you think black outrage has its place in societal discourse that boosts positive change? To hear more from Amanda, follow her on Twitter @amandadoee_ .