8.14: Black and Brown Emojis Are Not a Punch Line

First Name Basis Podcast

Jasmine Bradshaw

How To, Parenting, Education, Kids & Family

5 • 629 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2023

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode can be summarized with one sentence: Please stop using Black and Brown emojis if you are not Black or Brown.

Skin color is something that should be celebrated, not laughed at, but I have seen people using emojis that don’t match their skin tone time and time again.

I think a lot of the time people aren’t intentionally trying to do something racist, but when you peel back the layers you realize that the only reason why doing this could be funny is because of racism, and racism is not funny. And, like we talk about all the time, the IMPACT of an action always outweighs the INTENT.

In this episode, we’ll look at:

• A brief look at what digital blackface is.

• An explanation on why using Black and Brown emojis as a joke is harmful.

• How you can respond when you see people misusing Black and Brown emojis.

Invite Jasmine to work with your school!

Are you a parent or teacher who wants to help your school turn good intentions into positive action by making anti-racist education a priority? First Name Basis is here to help!

Jasmine Bradshaw, the host and founder of the First Name Basis Podcast, is an anti-racist educator and former second-grade teacher who has a passion for helping schools make real change. From providing professional development for teachers to curriculum consulting to implementing her unique anti-racist resources, Jasmine is your go-to anti-bias and anti-racist education resource.

Email [email protected] or visit firstnamebasis.org/workwithme for more information!

Articles, Studies & Podcasts Referenced in the Episode

“Blackface has resurged in the internet age. And you might be part of the problem,” by Tor Haugan, Berkeley Library

“What Is Digital Blackface? Experts Explain Why The Social Media Practice Is Problematic,” by Madeline Howard, Women’s Health

“Digital Blackface: How 21st Century Internet Language Reinforces Racism” by Erinn Wong

Song Credit: “Clapping Music” by BrightestAvenue and “Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to the First Name Basis podcast, season 8, episode 14.
0:06.0	Black and brown emojis are not a punchline.
0:13.4	Welcome to the First Name Basis podcast, an anti-racist podcast for schools and families.
0:19.0	I'm your host, Jasmine Bradshaw, and it's my job to teach grownups
0:22.3	like you, how to talk to kids about race and racism. So let's go. We've got work to do.
0:31.5	Hello, First Name Basis, fam. I am so glad you are here. Today, we're going to talk about black and brown
0:40.1	emojis and how I've been seeing people using them inappropriately. Originally, I wanted this
0:47.0	whole episode to be about digital blackface, and we will talk about that a little bit in this
0:51.7	episode. But as I got into the research,
0:55.3	oh, wow, wow, wow, wow, there was so much, there was so much to be discussed. There was so
1:01.9	much to understand and to learn. And I was just like, oh my gosh, this is an untold story
1:06.5	episode. I've always wanted to do an episode about blackface, like, by itself. And digital blackface
1:13.4	is like this new iteration of it. And so I feel like in order to really do it justice, I need to
1:19.3	give it its own space. And as many of you know, untold story episodes take me weeks to research,
1:25.8	weeks and weeks. It takes a really long time because I do a lot of
1:29.1	research and then I try to take a minute away from it, like take a breath and then go back
1:34.1	and read and figure out what's missing and what needs to be reinforced with multiple sources.
1:40.5	And it's just quite the process. And so I was kind of freaking out because I was telling my
1:45.0	husband, there's so much I need to talk about. There are so many twists and turns. Like I need to
1:48.9	say it all. And he lovingly reminded me that I need a focus, that I need to just make this episode
1:56.4	about what it was originally intended to be about, which is emojis. I am focusing on black and brown
2:02.5	emojis today. We are not going to blackface. We're going a teeny bit into digital blackface,
	...

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