(ThyBlackMan.com) H&M is the first company of 2018 to be put on a blast. They released a picture of a black child wearing a hoodie that read, “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” This resulted in many celebrities opting out of doing deals with them.
While majority of the black community have taken a stand against H&M a handful of the black community are in a sense defending them, some are even saying that “black people just want something to argue about.” It is 2018 and still some people have not opened their eyes. Of course, we can all look at this issue in a positive way, however in America where racism is alive and well, let’s cut the crap shall we?
This is more than a sweater argument. Yes, it is! When I first caught wind of the young child in this sweater I initially faulted his parents for allowing him to be photographed wearing such hoodie. However,
after doing much digging, and hearing other sides, this is definitely the companies issue. The words printed on the hoodie had to go through various of people to make it on a hoodie and everyone of them approved it.
We as a community must do better. We can no longer tolerate the disrespect from the billion-dollar companies any longer. H&M is not the only company that has gotten backlash for racist things, however we must do better as a whole to send a universal message to them that IT IS NOT OKAY! It is important that we don’t pick and choose when to be outraged by racism. Granted, it is tiring, and overwhelming at times, but we cannot afford to become indifferent to any form of oppression.
We must keep an open mind and fight against the offensive images. We are not just speaking for the living breathing blacks, we are also speaking up for the ones that are no longer here. Some say we must pick and choose when to argue, when was there ever a right time for us to argue? Must we only stand in solidarity when we are physically assaulted, killed, or stripped of employment? This is a major conflict within our black community.
Some want to stay silent when a hoodie clearly disrespects our culture and everything our people fought against and want to riot and put up a fuss when one of our own dies at the hands of a white person. By that time, it is too late. H&M deserves the backlash it is receiving because they know what black people are up against in the United States of America. Our ancestors did not fight for our freedom only to have it mocked by a sweater on a black child that says, “coolest monkey in the jungle.”
If we can’t open our minds up to have these discussions we FAIL ANOTHER GENERATION of black children, and they will grow up thinking that it is ok for our history to be made fun of. Because one day a child will see this picture and will know where they come from and will ask, “what does this mean?” And how are we supposed to respond if all we have to say is, “it is just a sweater?”
Staff Writer; Sha’Nelle V. Harris
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