⚠️⚠️⚠️ TW// Blackface, racism, anti-Blackness, death threats

Everything you need to know about what’s happening to Sam Okyere; thread
Sam Okyere is a Ghanaian tv personality active in South Korea and Ghana. He was accepted into the Korean Government Scholarship Program in 2009 and moved to Korea to study computer science at Sogang University, in Seoul. He is a permanent resident there.
August 3rd- a photo of five high school students in Blackface doing a still depiction of the viral “Coffin Dance” video.⚠️⚠️⚠️
On Aug. 6th Sam objected to the use of Blackface in the depiction.
“Time and time again why won’t people get that blackface is very offensive and not funny at all!!!!! There have been so many instances both on and off air where people paint their faces black here in Korea and think it's funny!
It’s not and I am highly against it and highly disappointed.

You put in so much effort to educate people here in Korea and make them understand that you can appreciate a culture without making mockery of the people. This has to stop in Korea! This ignorance cannot continue!!!!"
Koreans began calling him out for his statement, criticized him for making it in English, and claimed to be disappointed in him especially since he often used “my country” or “our country” when referring to Korea. Racist and Anti-Black comments were also very much present.
After receiving heavy backlash he then made an apology statement on Aug. 7th however the racist and Anti-Black commentary did not stop. He was harassed on all social platforms and received death threats about him and his family.⚠️⚠️⚠️
He explained that he didn’t mean to denigrate the students in any way.
 
"I tried to express my opinion and I went over the line and I am sorry for using their photograph without their permission. And I did not mean at all that Korean education is wrong.”⚠️⚠️⚠️
”I am sorry that there was a misunderstanding in translation." Some are arguing that there’s nothing wrong with blackface as long as it is not done with the intention of mocking or insulting.⚠️⚠️⚠️
Sam turned off his comment section with the posts of his apology. Sam received DMs telling him to “go back to his country”, calling him a racist and/or the n-word, and much more.⚠️⚠️⚠️
Hate accounts were also made.⚠️⚠️⚠️
People also went as far as finding the accs of his family members and harassing them as well.⚠️⚠️⚠️
A DIFFERENT school recreated the depiction, even TAGGING Sam (he then disabled the ability to tag him in posts).⚠️⚠️⚠️
A petition was started on the Blue House website calling for his deportation for "deceiving Korea, which had provided him with convenience and security he would not have been able to enjoy in Ghana." The petition was blocked by the Blue House as of Aug. 9th.
A photo of him bowing was taken and accompanied with articles by South Korean journalists claiming that he was bowing in apology. https://twitter.com/gyumstagram/status/1294242171256623109?s=21
He was just saying hi...
Recently he has been accused of sexual harassment with actress Park Eun-hye over this exchange and past “controversy” was also brought back up:
This isn’t a lack of education. This is willful ignorance. This is simply not caring. This is constantly talked about by Black people, the refusal to respect how we feel about an action meant to depict us and our culture and the hostility and blatant racism is disgusting. https://twitter.com/flourishingamb2/status/1293702146349727744
Some netizens are criticizing Sam for belittling Asians in the past and questioning if he has the right to discuss the topic of racism in Korea. Back in 2015, Sam Okyere was a part of the panel on JTBC‘s Abnormal Summit where they held a Spanish “grimace competition.”
While it was never said why he made this face, people are now demanding that he clarify it before speaking on racism. Now, and this is my personal opinion, first off the fact that Koreans are using this past situation to excuse their current behavior is not ok.
Second- yes, Sam should absolutely address this. Third- Sam never did it again, nor do you see other Ghanaian or Black people continuing to do it to spite Koreans or harassing and being racist to them because they spoke up.
Fourth- it’s very strange to see how what they had to say about his “Asian eyes” face when they think it’s okay to do Blackface if they mean well. If that isn’t the most blatant double standard I have ever seen...
Finally as I and many other Black people have already said throughout the years Blackface is offensive, we do not like or appreciate it no matter what your intentions are. If you truly see us as human beings and believe that Black lives matter then you would respect that.
It isn’t hard to not paint your skin to try to represent Black people. Anybody who knows the history, knows how we feel, and does it anyway is purposefully being disrespectful and offensive. They do not care about us. Stop invalidating Black people’s feelings and opinions. https://twitter.com/quxnjay/status/1291454202690940929
I hope that Sam and his family are doing as well as possible and are surrounded by people who love and support them. I also hope that not being on social media gives Sam a little bit of solace after everything that has and is happening.
#I_Stand_with_Sam_Okyere
You can follow @QuxnJay.
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