(no subject)

[otter]

I've spent some energy the past couple days inviting my white friends who have posted jokes about eating pets to consider the racism they are spreading by doing so. I'm doing this in support of friends who have posted about how hurtful it is to them as Japanese and Chinese people. For instance, one friend wrote - "There’s a lot to process today but one thing that keeps surfacing for me is the baseless accusation of immigrants eating pets. This old trope has been aimed at Asian communities for decades. Maybe it was worse in the 70s and 80s and that’s why it is poking at a personal wound." Another wrote "Okay, I am copying and pasting this, so I am making a post. Leave the bullshit pet eating thing alone. Most of the jokes about it that I have seen are sarcastic and play into it, and sarcastic racism is still racism. And it puts my kids and other immigrants in danger. Cut it out." I grew up hearing this crap pointed at the Hmong and Laotian refugee communities in my city. Coincidentally (?), it's only white friends who have been sharing the memes. Nearly all of those I've messaged directly have taken down the memes.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

As a Jamaican immigrant (for me Haiti is the island next door), a Black woman in the US, and a human being, I cannot possibly thank you enough. *hugs you gratefully*

[otter]

It is definitely more my responsibility to do this work, as a white person. I am glad that small efforts do make a positive difference.

[desdemonaspace]

Ohhhh. I remember back in the 80s when I lived in San Francisco, there was a standing joke about there being no stray cats in Chinatown. At the time, we thought nothing of it.

We sucked.

[otter]

And now that we do think of it, we can work to do better.

[sabotabby]

This is really good of you to do.

There was an incident back in I think 2015/2016 where a horrible "journalist" fanned the flames of a rumour that Syrian refugees in a hotel were slaughtering goats there. Local racists then committed an arson attack against the hotel. Luckily, no one was hurt, but there could have easily been massive death, including little kids.

These lies have to be taken seriously—they can get people killed.

[jazzyjj]

I have to agree with everything that's been said here. Tbh I never even thought that stuff like this could be offensive to some but you're absolutely right. Few if any memes are accessible to screen reader users, or at least this has been my experience. That said, I'm totally against racism and anti-Semitism and scrap like that.