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Why Noelle’s Sow “joke” is a racist and dangerous stereotype and why you should care (a thread by a black she ra watcher)
Disclaimer: I truly do not think Noelle knowingly and explicitly meant to be racist. However, impact matters more than intentions, and implicit racism/bias and racial stereotypes need our full attention because they travel in subtle and insidious ways in big fandoms like She-Ra.
In Noelle’s drawing, Sow is wearing a straw hat and chewing on a straw. He has a bandana around his neck. He is smiling a wide dopey smile and is dirty and disheveled.
the first image that popped into my mind was "plantation worker" when I saw the art. you know, since my ancestors forcibly picked cotton in on a slave plantation
BUT HE’S JUST A FARMER, you cry. Noelle said Sow tills the land, can’t black people be farmers?! Yes, we can, but first, listen... Let me show you some of the most famous stereotypes of African American men from American history and literature.
You’ll recognize all of the elements from the Sow art and insidious patterns that go along with each. I think it really IS that deep.
The Jim & Minstrel Stereotypes:
Mark Twain’s Huck Finn is on most middle and high school’s required reading lists. The depictions of African Americans in the novel are formative stereotypes that American children are introduced to. The character Jim is a racist stereotype.
Mark Twain’s Huck Finn is on most middle and high school’s required reading lists. The depictions of African Americans in the novel are formative stereotypes that American children are introduced to. The character Jim is a racist stereotype.
Anyone who reads the novel will come away with an image of him (and Black people in general) as unintelligent and lazy.
fun fact,the illustration of jim in the huck finn novel,& all of the novel’s illustrations were inspired by minstrel shows and blackface. The straw hat and tattered clothing became a staple of the shows, along with the infamous black paint that the white minstrel performers used
to darken their skin and the large round red lips.
According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture: “The first minstrel shows mimicked enslaved Africans on Southern plantations, depicting black people as lazy, ignorant, cowardly or hypersexual.”
The performances were intended to be funny to white audiences. But to the black community, they were demeaning and hurtful.
The Sambo Stereotype:
THIS is Sambo
Sambo is one of the most infamous stereotypes in American history. Here we see an image of a fat, wide-eyed, unintelligent, grinning, and docile black man. These images date back to the colonization of America.
THIS is Sambo
Sambo is one of the most infamous stereotypes in American history. Here we see an image of a fat, wide-eyed, unintelligent, grinning, and docile black man. These images date back to the colonization of America.
This stereotype flourished when slavery was legal in the US because it contributed to the lie of the “happy slave.” White slave owners used these dehumanizing caricatures to envision Black men as jolly and overgrown children “happy to serve their master.”
The Sambo stereotype was kept alive to this day through music titles, lyrics, folk sayings, literature, children’s stories, games, postcards, restaurant names, menus, and thousands of artifacts.
The image of Sambo has shaped attitudes toward African-American people FOR YEARS.
The image of Sambo has shaped attitudes toward African-American people FOR YEARS.
Sambo is one of the most pervasive stereotypes that is so consistently and implicitly transmitted from each generation to the next that in many ways, Sambo has become propaganda that people STILL buy into to this day.
The Uncle Tom Stereotype:
“Uncle Tom” is another infamous American classic written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.
Uncle Tom, another slave character, was depicted as a “large, broad-chested, powerfully made man whose truly African features were characterized by
“Uncle Tom” is another infamous American classic written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.
Uncle Tom, another slave character, was depicted as a “large, broad-chested, powerfully made man whose truly African features were characterized by
an expression of grave and steady good sense, united with much kindliness and benevolence.” He forfeits his own chance at escaping bondage and loses his life to ensure the freedom of other slaves.
The stereotype of Uncle Tom is submissive, obedient & in constant desire of white approval.
The Issue:
Noelle, like all Americans, has been exposed to these stereotypes. They linger in our cultural consciousness. The racist bones of this country rattle in every closet.
These tropes are in our novels, commercials, movies, tv shows, songs, sayings, and more.
Noelle, like all Americans, has been exposed to these stereotypes. They linger in our cultural consciousness. The racist bones of this country rattle in every closet.
These tropes are in our novels, commercials, movies, tv shows, songs, sayings, and more.
You see enslaved men that look like Sow in Louis Sachar’s Holes, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Huck Finn, 12 Years a Slave, Harriet, The Patriot, Gone With the Wind, Lincoln, and etc. I could keep listing them.
t is obvious that Noelle relied on attributes of these dangerous and racist stereotypes and a DEEP implicit bias that internalized them to make their drawing.
And why they didn’t really get why the joke was so harmful in the first place, because stereotypes claw and bury themselves so deep into our consciousness that we aren’t always fully aware of them.
And that is exactly why Black people, especially African American descendents of slavery, are exhausted.
We constantly watch our loved ones and community members die, brutally, and we know stereotypes of Black men being vicious criminals contribute to their slaughter.
We constantly watch our loved ones and community members die, brutally, and we know stereotypes of Black men being vicious criminals contribute to their slaughter.
We know that Black men are disproportionately murdered because society dehumanizes them and paints them as lawless, violent, and primitive.
We know that stereotypes and propaganda 100% feed into the perception that white people have of Othered and marginalized people.
Stereotypes have a detrimental impact on African-American families and communities. Obviously.
For instance, the belief that we are unintelligent, lazy, violent, and criminals has affected educational outcomes, employment opportunities, socioeconomic status, and the dismantling of our families and communities.
Educators, businesses, and law enforcement often believe these stereotypes, which influences their treatment of us and cultivates racism, police brutality, injustices in housing and healthcare, and segregation in schools, just to name a few.
And yet those who are supposed to be progressive, the ones we trusted, continue to fail us by keeping these awful stereotypes alive. White people can laugh and joke about Sambo, while we Black folk watch, knowing exactly what Sow is.
Where he comes from. WHY he continues to be so funny and popular to white people. They have the privilege to look at a drawing… and really just see a farmer. Noelle failed Black people yesterday.
They failed by being in a room of clueless white people who honestly most likely make worse jokes behind the scenes. They did not even once question or reflect if their inside joke was appropriate, considering that no Black people wrote Bow or gave input on his siblings.
They failed because they did not recognize these painful and damaging tropes in their art until Black people educated them about it after.
The next time you see someone on Tumblr or Twitter casually brushing off Noelle’s “joke” or a non-Black (or hell, even Black) person defending it, please show them this. Like, rt, link them here, copy and paste it, I don’t care.
Please educate those around you because we are in the middle of a movement that is trying to convince people that OUR LIVES MATTER. That we are human beings that deserve to live and be taken seriously.
Whether or not you agree with my analysis that this is serious fucking shit, at the very least don’t speak over Black people who are upset. Hold your creators accountable, and keep fandoms a safe space for Black people.
Remember: perpetuating these racist stereotypes will take us backwards, for eternity, if we let it. (END OF THREAD)
