Mbali Mlotshwa on 'blackface' criticism: Focus on the message
Fans have slammed Mbali Mlotshwa's "disrespectful" post.
Mbali Mlotshwa's attempt to add her voice to the "Black Lives Matter" movement was met with harsh criticism.
The actress posted a video of herself on Instagram wearing make-up that was a few shades darker than her actual skin tone.
Her "blackface" post, which was in support of #BlackLivesMatter, was labelled "disrespectful" and inappropriate.
“Black lives matter in all shades!! When the color of the berry matters not , but how sweet it is does.THAT WILL BE THE DAY LOVE WINS #NaChocolate #GhanaWecare #AfricaWecare #AmericaWecare #Worldwecare #weAreOne #filtersforAllkindsOfBrown When we love ourselfs enough to start bleaching browner, when our love for us gets black lives to matter even more, when? TODAY... Watch. This is all I'm saying and it's a reality," she captioned the image.
Instead of flooding her comments with messages of support, her followers questioned why Mbali, as a black woman, would need to make her skin look even darker.
"WHY? This is so inappropriate.Your caption would have been so much more impact if you had just posted a picture with your own skin tone. This just stripped your post of all it was meant to," one fan commented.
Another asked her to delete her "dumb" post.
"And honestly it was never about the dark black people. It's not like light skinned blacks weren't part of the black lives matter movement...we love you mbali but this was a dumb move. Or we don't understand?? You're yellow bone and you're BLACK."
But Mbali has defended her post.
"I'm happy it invoked some emotional impact. I hope the true essence of this message and everything in the picture when analysed further than the color of the woman's (me) has come across. Your reaction is my point. We care so much about skin "berry" that forget its essence "sweetness " . We love yellow bones forgetting, chocolate caramel and vanilla have the same Essenes !! All lives matter no mater where in the hues of the color wheel they are!! Imagine the day we all get that right... We will stop being offended with trivial things and deal with real issues. Mmmm. Once again sorry my interpretation in the matter offended you. Hope this helps u better understand. all love," she commented in response to the backlash.
What do you think about Mbali's post?