[ad_1]
- Wits University professor Danai Mupotsa believes that Clicks and Unilever’s apologies for the racist ad, which described black women’s hair as dry and damaged, is just a facade.
- He said the protests and conversations about issues of representation and racism that still prevail in organizations were necessary to assert people.
- Companies like Unilever use representation as a tactic to quell criticism, while continuing the status quo.
After nearly a week of outrage and nationwide protests over TRESemmé’s announcement on the Clicks website, Wits University Senior Lecturer Danai Mupotsa is skeptical of the apologies issued by these companies. The African literature scholar said she fears they lack true understanding and the will to change, as their values and culture are based on the structures of racial capitalism.
Mupotsa told News24 that representation plays an important role in society, helping people feel affirmed and accepted.
She said:
If people have never seen themselves in a picture on television, in a book, or in an advertisement, they begin to feel like they don’t exist.
Mupotsa recalled her own childhood experience, growing up in Zimbabwe, where the only representation she saw of black hair was in relaxing boxes. These featured a black boy with silky straight hair.
“That was the image I was aiming for, which was straight hair that was curled in a particular way. Then when I relaxed my hair and it didn’t look like that, I was confused.”
The Wits speaker told News24 that companies like Unilever and Clicks often hired people of color as a form of decoration, rather than transforming and changing centuries-old problems of systemic racism and inequality.
Mupotsa said it was about time these large corporations put their money where their mouths were when it came to the systematic changes they incorporate.
Deeply racist story ‘stayed pretty much the same’
“If we start to see black women in different positions of power or occupying strategic positions, instead of just positions, I think there are two effects: a reorientation of the world in that organization, because they come with the experience of a body that does not come from a position of power and could bring some information, “he told News24.
“So there is a transformative possibility. But often that form of representation means that you are in that place and the image is there, but it is not performative or transformative in the sense that you have to reproduce the same system because the language is spoken – the norms and values given in that context remain the same. “
Mupotsa lamented the fact that nationwide protests, such as those organized by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) last week, would continue to occur due to the long history of racial capitalism.
She said:
Companies like Unilever are deeply rooted in the creation of global racial capitalism. That system is deeply racialized and gendered. On top of that, that deep story that’s deeply racist has pretty much stayed the same.
“So Clicks gives us a shelf as ethnic people … against a full shelf … that gives you the idea of which point of view matters and who owns things,” said the current Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equality.
EFF supporters protesting at the Mall of Africa during the national closure of all Clicks outlets in Midrand.
Mupotsa believes that the outrage and conversations that are being had about the issues of racism, black hair, representation and the history of racial science, which have long ruled organizations like Unilever, are important in making people feel affirmed. It also helped people to realize that there was the possibility of a different kind of reality than today.
“If you felt crazy all your life and then you realize that you are not crazy … that kind of statement is energizing and heartbreaking because you also realize the magnitude of the problem. These conversations make possible moments of recognition that there are other ways we can do business, “he added.
‘We deserve better’
She believes that whites who expressed outrage at the protests showed another kind of cynicism, showing their lack of understanding and affirming the racist notion that blacks are worthless.
“We are asked too quickly to think that things have changed. Someone says that we have decolonized and then we rejoice and then we are shocked two, five, ten years later, when things remain the same.
She said:
We need to be deeply cynical because the things we want are beautiful and bigger than we imagine. Black children must grow up knowing that they are beautiful, without discovering it after burning their hair for 25 years. To reverse history, a deep spiritual, political, ethical, emotional, revolutionary, reforming and radical commitment is required.
However, Mupotsa also called out blacks who believed the protests were unnecessary and sabotaged the small black-owned businesses that sell their products on Clicks.
“I know that being recognized by large corporations gives some kind of access and legitimacy to a business. But this is where we all have to take some responsibility in the way we mobilize and organize and imagine a different kind of future,” he said.
EFF members at Sandton City Mall during the national closure of all Clicks outlets.
“If being in Clicks is the final publication, then we are part of the problem. We deserve better.”
“The inclusion model is, for example, that in Clicks you will always be in the ethnic section because the normative standard is that everyone is white and then you can have the corner section. Now, that is an unfair standard and it does not seem like that in the country or the world, “he said.
Did you know that you can comment on this article? Subscribe to News24 and add your voice to the conversation.
