H&M mother has said for people to 'get over it'

[WomanEmpire]

Apparently she has said on Facebook it's people 'crying wolf' and to 'get over it'

Wdyt?

I personally think H&M are counting their lucky stars and have sort of preyed on her, (this is very presumptuous, so I am prepared to be shot down) knowing that perhaps as someone who is native Nigerian and moved to Sweden (I think relatively recently, but again pull me up on this if I'm incorrect) might not be quite as aware of the racism that incurs in the US/UK, as those who live in these countries and wouldn't think to second guess in a shoot, because you'd trust such a popular retailer to not have racist slurs put on a jumper and modelled by a child, who could quite possibly still be called this by those idiots. Because I still can't believe that NO ONE along the process picked up on this.

I'm not saying racism doesn't occur in other countries but I have experience of those two countries.

And this was a brilliant post by another poster who managed to succinctly sum up one of the reasons the other thread and inevitably this thread turned into such a racism apologist shit show:

""Yesterday 20:12 Rosewatersoap

I think that some people on this thread just have no understanding of how media including advertising operates in the public sphere. They don't understand that images and words are symbols used to create public narratives and that language including signs e.g. words and pictures always exist and are read in a wider social, political and cultural context. These posters don't understand the media sphere and mass communication at all and that is due to a lack of education in this topic.

I wish they introduced serious media studies and theory to the national curriculum."

Does the mother in question speak for all or even the majority of black people in Britain?

And this explains it so much better than I ever can. I can't see how people can read this and then not see the problem.

I'm black and I found it horribly offensive, yes children are referred to as monkeys in general but personally I wouldn't put my mixed race son in a top that had the word 'monkey'. Monkey has been used as a derogatory term for blacks we historically have been compared to monkeys, sub-humans, the missing link between monkeys and humans, being put in literal zoos as attractions and still to this day the comparison is there, I don't see white footballers getting bananas throw at them. so the term 'monkey' is no joke to us. We have a right to be offended by the ignorance of H&M.

P.S. if she said anything else, would H&M hire her son again, do you think?

Do you think she feels confident her statement couldn't negatively affect her son's modelling jobs?

All the 'nothing to see here posters' 'load of fuss over nothing' sound so threatened. Why are they so invested in pretending that the word 'monkey' isn't still widely used as a racist slur?

Most curious...

Why are they so invested in pretending

Is that actually run by his mother pisacake? I thought it was an account used to share alternative versions of the ad that people who found the original racially insensitive came up with instead. I doubt his mum would share all of those reworkings of the original if she was happy with the original

Lemonshark that's a brilliant, articulate post.

Lemon I wondered that too, but then one of the posts says "happy 5th birthday to my son". I'm

Thanks lala. Not trying to toot my own horn but hopefully this thread can take a different more nuanced direction than the previous one which was just pages and pages of 'you're the racist for seeing it' with so little comprehension of wider issues it was shocking to witness on a board of presumably fairly literate people in 2018. Absolutely embarrassing.

I couldn't see the problem with the hoodie. The fact that it went unchecked shows that it didn't figure on H&M's, the mother's to the child's radar.

It has been used as a racially offensive term against black people. Good for you if youve never had it used against you or wouldnt use it or didnt know.... but thats not going to be everyones experience is it? I think people whove had this used as an insult against them have every right to be bloody offended. Especially considering it was just the black child wearing this top. Im not saying H&M did it on purpose but they have whole teams of people who are suppose to think about these things.

Being white i would equate it with giving your female child a top with the word 'Bitch' emblazened on it. No one would do that right because we all have experience of it being used as an insult towards women..... If you saw an advert where all the boys were wearing tops which said 'top dog' and the girl was wearing one which said 'bitch' would you think that was okay? This is just the bloody same, its not hard to understand. Just because you dont recognise it as an insult doesnt mean it hasnt been causing pain to black people who have had this used as an insult against them. And many have even very recently... look at all the stuff about Michelle Obama being compared to a monkey..... this is a very real thing that is happening to black people and by denying them the right to be offended and pretending that theres nothing wrong in it is sort of gaslighting them, denying the abuse many of them face daily. Its not okay.

"There's a certain privilege at play when you say you don't have an issue with it so let's all move on."

What? The mother who is black, has no "privilege". She is not offended. Her opinion matters more than most people in this case..

But that wont do ,no, she must be pressurised 'cos.......what? She doesnt know her own mind? Some truly privileged white people on the internet are , so how can it be otherwise?

The mental gymnastics required to take offence regularly + regardless, are quite something.

Bitch and monkey cannot be compared. One is innocent the other is a slur.

I'm glad she spoke up, I assumed she would say as much. It got blown out of proportion, the poor little lad was part of a modelling shoot for a big brand and his image is splashed across the media for negative reasons insinuating he's a victim of H&M's racist agenda.

Nonsense, he looked fab in the top and as other mentioned people would have been furious and rightly so if someone had told him he is not allowed to model the jumper because of his skin pigment.

Well done to his mother for speaking up.

The mental gymnastics required to take offence regularly + regardless, are quite something.

So you think black people who are offended by this are being overly sensitive and just a bit silly really?

What a repulsive attitude you have.

MSHarry you view it that way because you have experience of one being a slur but not the other. Its massively blinkered. This is not all about YOUR experience its about all the black people who have had monkey shouted at them as an insult. To them it is a slur.

Just because the mother of the model says it's not racist, doesn't mean that everyone else who thinks it's racist's views should be dismissed

Tip - If a retailer sells an item you personally dont like , or are offended by dont buy it.
In fact dont buy anything from them , boycott them completely if you feel strongly enough.

They are not however in existence (and nor are the rest of us) to pander to every individuals particular likes + dislikes, no matter how important that person feels their particular opinion is..

So it's about time the term monkey is liberated and used out of the context of a racial slur isn't it? If we continue to run and hide we are feeding it! Reclaim the word for what it is.

^^That's such a stupid thing to say its almost funny. Almost.

Bitch and monkey cannot be compared. One is innocent the other is a slur.

Monkey is a slur to a black person. It's used to dehumanise black/mixed people. You might not have realised but it's very very common and regularly used.

This shit again, for goodness sake! It isn't about that individual child or mother. They can take offense or not as they see fit. It also isn't about what white people think, especially if they aren't offended and are dismissive of those who are.

This is about a long history of racism and racist language and symbolism that has compared (and still does) black people to monkeys. For this reason the ad was offensive to many people even if H&M hadn't meant for it to be. It really isn't that difficult a concept to grasp.

So it's about time the term monkey is liberated and used out of the context of a racial slur isn't it? If we continue to run and hide we are feeding it! Reclaim the word for what it is.

Did it work for the N word? I don't think so. Unfortunately, I don't think reclaiming words works.

"Is that actually run by his mother pisacake?"

This photo is dated May 28 2017, you can't fake that www.instagram.com/p/BUpMWUih8uC/?taken-by=kingofthejungle81

Also in Swedish, so it seems 100% authentic.

Apparently they are of Kenyan origin, so the jungle angle could be relevant

If this mum were unhappy, that slogan would probably not be on the jumper or a white model would have modelled it. I don't agree with tgat particular slogan, I know exactly how it's racist, though demonising the affectionate term little "monkey" to describe a cheeky mischeavious child, is wrong.

I think it's abhorrent that people want to continue to compare black skinned people to a monkey but continuing to run and hide from ever using the word around black people. Move on!