Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep. 9: Digital Skin Color, Either/Or Thinking, and Pizza in Dakar

QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW

April and Tracie riff on a seemingly small manifestation of white dominance in our everyday lives: the skin color of emojis. The discussion of digital skin tone leads into a conversation about racial implications of the Simpsons' yellow hue, and on to a focused training about the ways that seemingly benign binaries turn up in malignant ways.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Tracie opens the episode by referring to an article in the Atlantic that detailed a study done by Andrew McGill on the skin color most used for Twitter emojis when different skin tones are given. What skin color do you use for your emojis? Do you use the “simpson’s yellow” or one that matches your own. Why? Have you thought about it before? 

  2. April discusses the notion within the United States’ collective unconscious that white is the “default”. Is this something that you were taught and have internalized? How do you push against this messaging? 

  3. Tracie points out that this conversation they are having is about the small ways in which white supremacy shows up in our lives. She links it to a similar conversation she had with colleagues within a training about white supremacy and its requirement of either/or thinking. Tracie explains how this either/or thinking creates false and harmful binaries. Like the homework she gave her colleagues, what are the ways in which either/or thinking have shown up in your week? 

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

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