Tyra Responded!

Here's an article retracing the whole controversy of Tyra dressing up her models as alternate races.

I had a problem with Tyra's decision like a lot of other news outlets, not for putting her models in blackface (although I argue that it has similar connotations) but because she failed to realize that race is not physical a physical indicator of culture. We are socialized into the identities we subscribe to and it is wrong to tell people that by putting on some makeup and some clothing that you could somehow portray a person of another color. She claims that being blacks excuses her from any form of racism, but racism is in a sense a reductionist understanding of the world. No, Tyra, you are not a racist, but you a certainly a reductionist. You're basically playing up the exoticism and otherness of different races. Stop using color to guide discussions about toleration, and start using humanity as a uniting force for cultural understanding.


I personally don't think she redeemed herself, at least from these quotes. I couldn't find the full episode yet, but I imagine it'll be up soon. What do you think? (I'll update this week!)


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