Why the “AfricanBootyScratcher” Campaign?

The term African Booty Scratcher is offensive to many. It is not a pretty term. Especially in the world of fashion- much accustomed to aesthetics and creating appeal. Even more in the African context where tradition and the desire to not offend are of utmost importance. The term is crude. Repulsive. Repellent.

This is what we sought to show and convey in using this word.

Can you imagine as a 5 year old or 8 year old or 11 year old or even 17 year old having this term thrown at you. The implication, the weight that comes with the term. The heaviness, the shame.

Just as many have shone away on our social media pages when we have used this term, because of it’s sheer ugliness, we wanted to convey just the sheer weight of the word.

Yet it is often a term used to torment Africans (usually children by other children) in the US. While it is a childish term used in playgrounds, its underlying implication and weight are not at all child’s play. Furthermore, the negative connotations packed in the phrase endure past childhood and into adulthood when most are sufficiently cultured not to dare use the phrase. Thus the phrase cannot simply be dismissed as childish pranks.

Juxtaposing the phrase in its ugliness against well-done shots is meant to allow people to question their previous connotations about Africa. By contrasting the visuals with the perceived, we seek to begin a dialogue first within people’s minds at to the contrast between what they believe Africa to be and what they see.

Our hope is that is viewing these images of Africa and “the African” the previous connotations of Africa that come with the term “booty scratcher” will being to melt away. This is the power of fashion- it is the role African fashion is currently playing. In its ubiquity, African fashion is beginning to roll back the image of Africa as that of a dark and depressed place. Rather the continent is starting to be recognized as a place of beauty, life, and color because of the inroads its fashion is starting to make across the globe.

But more than this, in using the phrase so nonchalantly and in juxtaposition to empowering representations of “Africa”, we seek to disarm the power of these words and give control back to the many Africans and perhaps many more to come that will be confronted by its ugliness and that of may other terms like it.

Yet such displays of prejudice and hate are not unique in their being directed at Africans. Almost all groups or sects in society have some derogatory term directed at them. From Akata* to White Trash to Chink to the N-word, we as a human race do not seem to tire in our ability to invent ways to demean others- especially those different from us and whose differentness we fear.

Thus beyond the need to recognize the way in which negative perceptions and stereotypes are directed at Africans, it is also a call to be cognizant of the way in which we contribute to stereotypes and negative connotations about others. For it is only in a world where “Akata” is possible that “African booty scratcher” can also be possible.

*Akata- a term used by Africans (usually Nigerians in the US) to describe Blacks of non-African origin (usually also living in the US)