The hashtag #IfIWasWhite is trending on Twitter right now. If you wade into the search results, you’ll see that white people are using it to deliver 140-character symposiums on race relations:
#IfIWasWhite I’d say race doesn’t matter AND #IfIWasBlack I’d know that it does.
— Eddie Mumford (@denselyscribble) February 12, 2014
… and that non-white people are mostly using it to make jokes:
#IfIWasWhite I’d name my dog Benjamin Thurgood Jr and buy him this extravagant dog sweaters and include him in family portraits
— Brandon (@SN252) February 12, 2014
But it doesn’t really count if you’re observing societal double-standards or making lulz with this hashtag. The joke’s kind of on everyone, because:
#IfIWasWhite … I like how people don’t realize this trend is supposed to be about Shaun White, not white people… pic.twitter.com/5aqYophIf3
— Versace (@JaredVsetecka) February 12, 2014
Olympic snowboarder Shaun White failed to medal in Sochi today, and thus, will go home empty-handed. Kind of a crappy day for him.
But if that’s really how the hashtag started, it wasn’t used for those purposes long before #IfIWasWhite got hijacked for Twitter’s latest race debate.
So, in summation, white moral police …
#IfIWasWhite I’d be white. #IfIWasBlack I’d be black. Get over your ignorant stereotypes and get to know somebody beyond their skin color.
— Kayla Howard (@kayla_bayla13) February 12, 2014
… jokes …
#IfIWasWhite I’d be outside like pic.twitter.com/CgCbNkOpOp
— Malik Pollock (@M_PEEZY14) February 12, 2014
… and relevant lessons in proper grammar:
if you’re gonna be ignorant at least be grammatically correct. #IfIWasWhite / #IfIWasBlack should be ‘were’ not ‘was’. but whatever.
— CHRIS FOXX (@FoxxFiles) February 12, 2014
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