In response to the Lupita Nyong’o/Niki Minaj-cartoon

Image

“No matter where you’re from… your dreams are valid.” I, too, donated many heartbeats to Lupita Nyong’o’s supernova of an acceptance speech and I think this cartoon completely undermines her power and relevance. Personally, I adore Nyong’o  for being Nyong’o and not for not being Minaj.

Why isn’t the trashcan filled with pictures of Chelsea Handler who, among other racist rubbish, Tweeted: “#AngelinaJolie just filed adoption papers #lupitanyongo #Oscars -@chelseahandler.” or with eurocentric magazines that continuously make too many Sisters question if their Black is beautiful? How about a trashcan filled with the faces of (casting) directors who would like to tell the stories of iconic, dark-skinned Black women but only if they can be portrayed by a woman with a much lighter skin tone.

I hope the artist isn’t implying that Nicki Minaj is the biggest bump in our roads towards visibility and representation and I absolutely detest the idea that to truly celebrate the magic of one Sister, we must denounce another. If the cartoon would have showed us an image of a little Black girl drawing dreams under the watchful eye of a Lupita Nyong’o poster like the picture below I’m sure that we wouldn’t only have gotten the point… we would live it.

Lupitasolo

Unknown's avatar

About Zeefuik

Simone Zeefuik is a writer, cultural programmer and tea critic. @lazeefuik on Instagram and @lazeefuik.bsky.social on Bluesky.

Posted on March 4, 2014, in Imagery and representation. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on In response to the Lupita Nyong’o/Niki Minaj-cartoon.

Comments are closed.