Following intense backlash for her silence, which was ended by simply posting a series of black squares and nothing else, in support of Blackout Tuesday, Emma Watson has shared a statement
The Harry Potter star was hit with criticism for the move, after previously being hailed as quite the activist – with many finding it offensive she’d not used her massive platform to share useful resources amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
After posting three black tiles, and nothing else, the 30-year-old was accused of performative activism, with one pointing out the tiles had white borders to seemingly fit in with the rest of her Instagram posts.
Now the actor has told fans ‘I see your anger, sadness and pain’ in a statement released on social media, amid the protests following the death of George Floyd, 46, who died after a police office knelt on his neck.
Sharing an artwork by Dr. Fahamu Pecou, titled White Lies, Subtleties, Micro-Aggressions, and Other Choking Hazards, Emma – who also shared a resource on her Stories for fans wanting to help – insisted she was ‘holding off until #blackouttuesday ended in the UK’ before posting.
Sharing a statement on the following slides, the actress addressed white supremacy and her own privilege, as she wrote: ‘There is so much racism, both in our past and present, that is not acknowledged nor accounted for. White supremacy is one of the systems of hierarchy and dominance, of exploitation and oppression, that is tightly stitched into society.
‘As a white person, I have benefited from this. Whilst we might feel that, as individuals, we’re working hard internally to be anti-racist, we need to work harder externally to actively tackle the structural and institutional racism around us.
‘I’m still learning about the many ways I unconsciously support and uphold a system that is structurally racist.’
She insisted she will be using her social media accounts to share links to resources she has found ‘useful for my own researching, learning, listening’.
The star went on:’I see your anger, sadness and pain. I cannot know what this feels like for your but it doesn’t mean I won’t try to.’
It’s our understanding Emma’s posts were not a reaction to backlash and she had been working on them for a while before posting.
Followers thanked the actress for her statement, after she was earlier slated for her silence as many of her colleagues in the entertainment business were using their platforms to evoke change and share educational resources.
One previously wrote: ‘Emma watson not saying anything for the whole week and then posting a black blank pic in instagram that won’t help in anything is just the peak of white feminism’.
Another added: ‘Emma watson got nearly 300k likes in 34 minutes and it was a performative activism post that doesn’t help blm. F**k her for not using that platform to share donation/petition links when she has a platform THAT BIG.’
However, despite the criticism, others stuck up for her for her activism over the years.
‘Imagine thinking Emma Watson is a white feminist,’ one supporter wrote on Twitter. ‘Emma has been uplifting black voices for years when it wasn’t a trend. Y’all are trash and I am NOT here for you dragging an ally.’
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