at lantern's call

White is right. The Fox News Demographic of Fandom, if you will.

"you're stealing my/their culture because they're not white" ass people. The "mythological beast is sexy but Black people ruin the fantasy" ass people. The "this design is okay but I prefer the canon because it's white 'accurate'" ass people. The people that forget Africa also borders the Mediterranean, bc apparently only Greeks had the boats necessary to interact with the world.

These fans try to use faux-intelligent arguments that shouldn't work on anyone even remotely familiar with white supremacist rhetoric. But the thing this, the people around the Charlie Kirks of fandom WANT to be racist. They WANT to feel correct, they're relieved to hear their racism- which most of them won't call what it is- is validated by others. It doesn't matter that orientalism amongst other things determines why these stories were chosen by the white western world, and affects how they were told, to this day... No, we conveniently forget that part.

These are the people that will harass anyone that draws or writes their Fave any hint of brown, or will claim in order to have Black people in a fic they must be Historically and Culturally Accurate to the letter, because fandom's only supposed to be for White Whimsy.

These are the "It doesn't matter if you're purple, I don't think about race at all when I create!" fans, and... They sure don't! 😅 And they really should.

They want to be inclusive, you should have told them EVEN MORE NICELY (you weren't mean) to stop being racist about their design! You're being mean, and that's WORSE!

This is where all the Ambiguously Brown Characters™ get made, with grey skin tones and straight hair and blue eyes and Perfectly Drawn & Color Picked White Counterparts. This is the "uwu Miles Morales would steal art materials" type crowd. The "I just made this Black woman/man who doesn't have a canon design super dark skinned because I think she's an evil Jezebel/he's a monster" folks. The "it's just the lighting" folks.

It's so obviously antiblack, but because it's sugarcoated with "love of Black characters" folks think it's okay. Picking the characters that are socially "safe" to make Black (I still wanna know why it's always Diomedes that's the Black one in the Odysseus/Diomedes art. Why not Odysseus? 👀 There could be non racist reasons! I have mine for Patroclus!)

These fans could go multiple ways, fr.

They'll get better at Black character design! But if they don't escape the cycle and Learn Why, they'll just be afraid of Black fans and end up in the Barbie Doll Wielders.

They'll stay where they are and ignore it as "haters", and be supported by the hivemind. Will also avoid Black fans.

And with good reason. They CAN create Black characters! Really good ones, actually... Or can they? These are the fans that hurt your feelings and piss you off the most, as a Black fan. Because on the surface it's like yeah! They did it! Finally!

But then you realize... It sure is Black-People-Free around them. Another name could be the "Get Out" crowd. 👀 They get accolades for drawing or writing Black people, but then you realize... why are there never any around you? Why do you never share Black creators?

The times Black people do interact with you, is it a positive experience? Or are you standoffish? Are you uncomfortable having Black fans interact with you? Are you afraid of being seen talking about Blackness, even though you have this Black character? Are you... Avoiding us?! How are you inclusive but you're afraid of Black voices? Why don't you mind having the spotlight for creating Black characters, but don't share that spotlight with Black creators?

Are you only inclusive of the version of me you can control? That is, that "Black" character you created? Is that the only acceptable Black for you- the one in your mind?

These are the fans that when you DO see them interact with Black people, you realize how tone deaf they are. There's an overlap with the Hood Wearers, that you realize they don't actually know how to converse with Blackness... But if they never have to do that... 🤷🏾‍♀️

And to me- and this is why I get so insulted- it reveals an unwillingness to fully commit to what it actually means to be inclusive. That is, risking some popularity (aka white fan support). Everyone knows that when you draw characters of color, unless you're a perfect angel who never says anything ever, you'll get less support for it. Can't make that fan base TOO uncomfortable, when everyone is happy that we're sharing our perfect Black Barbie Dolls, the well cared for ones that show We Aren't Racist. You can't say that! Look at what I do! Look at how I treat my toy Black character! There's no war in Ba Sing Se!