Emma Waston has responded to backlash for her #blackouttuesday Instagram post yesterday, telling her followers “I see your anger, sadness and pain.”
The black square was initially used as an online protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death to show solidarity and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was shared by many across the globe but divided opinion with many believing that lasting change must come from actions offline and noting that using #blacklivesmatter alongside it was flooding the hashtag feed with black squares, therefore pushing down important information and resources.
The Harry Potter star’s followers also claimed that her decision to add a white border to the three posts was to fit in with her Instagram ‘aesthetic’, prioritising how her feed looks over the important message.
Emma later appeared to respond to the backlash with a number of slides which read:
“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.
“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. As a white person, I have benefited from this. I’m still learning about the many ways I unconsciously support and uphold a system that is structurally racist.”
She added: “Over the coming days, I’ll be using my bio link and Twitter to share links to resources I’ve found useful for my own researching, learning, listening…
“I see your anger, sadness and pain. I cannot know what this feels like for you but it doesn’t mean I won’t try to.
“Emma.”
The actress captioned the post: “I stand with you.”
On another post, Emma said that she “held off posting until #blackouttuesday ended in the UK,” sharing a poetry and artwork by Dr Fahamu Pecou.
This article originally appeared on marie claire UK.
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