The ACLU has apologized for perpetuating “white supremacy” after some on Twitter took offense to a tweet featuring a white baby.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the ACLU posted a photo of a child wearing a “free speech” onesie with the text, “This is the future that ACLU members want”:
This is the future that ACLU members want. pic.twitter.com/bAIwuheEco
— ACLU National (@ACLU) August 23, 2017
Instead of noticing the shirt the baby was wearing, some people immediately took offense to the tweet including a white baby:
A White kid with a flag?!
— Nyasha Junior (@NyashaJunior) August 23, 2017
— Steven Thrasher (@thrasherxy) August 23, 2017
I actually thought someone retweeted a 'white genocide' account onto my timeline. https://t.co/X6SGsxwjPh
— joe prince (@joeprince___) August 23, 2017
What? All blond folk! I don't get this silly post. The future ACLU wants is a little blond kid???
— SavageFem (@SavageNancy) August 23, 2017
Now I see why you worked so hard for the neo Nazis in Charlottesville
— Kokoa (@kokoa96) August 23, 2017
This is the future the @ACLU wants. pic.twitter.com/Fo0Ux3LEOO
— #BlackAugust (@BlackAutonomist) August 23, 2017
Anthropologist Michael Oman-Reagan suggested he would rather have a future featuring black characters from science fiction films:
I'd rather have this future. pic.twitter.com/LeLIgfvEJG
— Michael (@OmanReagan) August 23, 2017
I'd rather have this future. pic.twitter.com/eakFwWBjZW
— Michael (@OmanReagan) August 23, 2017
I'd rather have this future. pic.twitter.com/XR0fNoS0rc
— Michael (@OmanReagan) August 23, 2017
I'd rather have this future. pic.twitter.com/MhlbYAUE4n
— Michael (@OmanReagan) August 23, 2017
In response to the uproar, the ACLU thanked its Twitter follows for bringing attention to the fact that "white supremacy is everywhere" -- apparently even in merely posting images of white babies:
When your Twitter followers keep you in check and remind you that white supremacy is everywhere. pic.twitter.com/Qx5D5hbKWy
— ACLU National (@ACLU) August 23, 2017
The ACLU then issued another tweet clarifying they meant to highlight ACLU onesies, not white babies:
PSA: The future we want is babies in ACLU onesies.
— ACLU National (@ACLU) August 23, 2017
For more cute ACLU babies, follow us on Instagram! https://t.co/pRseIPpdLs https://t.co/ICEekojaBd
Of course, that wasn’t enough. One Twitter user remarked the tweet made her “afraid” since it featured a blonde baby that somehow symbolizes “white supremacy”:
Like several other repliers, I saw the blond hair and US flag and was afraid, because these things have come to symbolize white supremacy.
— Julie Barnes (@JtrackJulie) August 23, 2017
Another person claimed the tweet should be deleted since it “smacks of ethno-nationalist propaganda”:
Just take a moment to acknowledge that the tweet bizarrely smacks of ethno-nationalist propaganda, then delete it
— Levi LaChappelle (@levilachappelle) August 23, 2017
The ACLU was essentially between a rock and a hard place: use a gif of a white child and you’re perpetuating white supremacy, or use a gif of a black child and you’re using “digital blackface.”
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