Well, it looks like the "if you can say it, why can't I say it?" debate is happening once again, this time it takes form in what is being called a non-apology from Russian fashion designer Ulyana Sergeenko. Sergeenko received backlash this week for the racist note she sent to blogger and co-founder of Buro 24/7, Miroslava Duma.
Duma posted the note on her Instagram story Monday night with a heart emoji — an obvious nod to the direction of racial insensitivity being a casual occurrence.
"To my niggas in Paris," the note read.
This DISGUSTS me. To see Mira post something on IG so casually using this racial slur, and then have Ulyana defend the usage with such a bs excuse makes my blood boil. So tired of “fashion girls” thinking that listening to one rap song gives them the right. pic.twitter.com/P5XHVnNXaX
— Callia A. Hargrove (@calliarmelle) January 23, 2018
The note seems to be a reference to the hit Kanye West and Jay Z song, and in the non-apology that Sergeenko issued amongst backlash, she makes note of that.
I woke up this morning with my phone full of insulting messages, 'you deserve the worst in your life,' 'die white trash,' and so on," Sergeenko wrote. "I was born in a small town in East Kazakhstan, my daughter is half-Armenian, I have never divided people on white or Black. Kanye West is one of my favorite musicians, and NP is one of my most favorite songs. And yes, we call each other the N-word sometimes when we want to believe we are just as cool as the guys who sing it. I am deeply sorry to anyone I may have offended. Mira is a dear friend and even the fact that she so naively posted my private card to her on her social means that we meant nothing wrong and didn't realize the consequences. I have certainly learned my lesson and I am grateful for it. There is enough anger in the world out there, please, can we stop it here? [heart emoji]"
Honey, you could have kept that attempt at an apology to yourself. Refusal to own up to your issues and openly admitting you casually use racist slurs is a far cry from an apology. So basically, you're not sorry and will continue the racist antics, but only in private?
Quite possibly the worst apology for casual racism I have ever read, and that’s really saying something. https://t.co/NRtVIJTNOI
— Matthew Schneier (@MatthewSchneier) January 23, 2018
Miroslava Duma, who seems to be a friend of Kim and Kanye, has received backlash for the trash antics before. In 2014, her blog posted a photo of a Black woman being used as a chair by the daughter of a Russian oligarch. The apology that followed that debacle was just as pathetic.
& you just might believe them until you recall the image Mira Duma published on her website, Buro 24/7, of a conservatively dressed white woman (Dasha Zhukova) sitting on a chair fashioned out of a near-nude, contorted black woman's body, on Martin Lurther King, Jr.'s Day. (2014) pic.twitter.com/VHB0ZdaIui
— TheRedQueen (@LaReinaLeida) January 23, 2018
All we can gather from this is that you can't expect people to learn on their own, especially when the racism is so fun! Another day, another white person telling us what we should be mad about. Is anyone surprised?
