48K likes, 1,347 comments - vikings on September 15, 2023: "We are sickened by the hatred and racial slurs directed toward Alexander Mattison following last ..."
A lot of the older folks thought Rick Astley was black because of his voice.
Did you see him before hearing him? His vocal style is most similar to Black singers of the era before him, so it’s not racist to assume he’s black. If they only listened to him because he was white, then that’s racist.
There is a difference between being overtly racist (I won’t listen unless he’s white) and incidentally racist (There is no way this guy is white). It is still racist to make assumptions on people’s skin color based on how deep their voice is, and it’s frankly weird, like phrenology level weird.
I don’t think those kind of micro-assumptions need to be flagged that way. We make assumptions constantly. It’s how we interact with the world and learn. The problematic part is what we do after making those internal assumptions. It’s innocuous if it’s “oh wow he’s white.” If it’s more common than one guy the assumption won’t happen anymore.
Did you see him before hearing him? His vocal style is most similar to Black singers of the era before him, so it’s not racist to assume he’s black. If they only listened to him because he was white, then that’s racist.
There is a difference between being overtly racist (I won’t listen unless he’s white) and incidentally racist (There is no way this guy is white). It is still racist to make assumptions on people’s skin color based on how deep their voice is, and it’s frankly weird, like phrenology level weird.
I don’t think those kind of micro-assumptions need to be flagged that way. We make assumptions constantly. It’s how we interact with the world and learn. The problematic part is what we do after making those internal assumptions. It’s innocuous if it’s “oh wow he’s white.” If it’s more common than one guy the assumption won’t happen anymore.