How to talk to your teen about Snapchat and 'digital blackface'

Snapchat, the disappearing message app, is known for its playful photo filters, which can turn your selfie eyes into hearts, add a bunny nose on top of our own, or simply overlay a time or location stamp. They’re fun; I know. So do lots and lots of tweens and teens who rush to download any new filter.

Then last month the top-rated social messaging service debuted a Bob Marley filter  (also called a “lens”) that allowed its 100 million-plus users to try a filter to look more like the late reggae singer. Users could easily adopt Marley's brown skin tone, dreadlocks, and don a Rasta-style hat. But critics quickly pointed out that filter was really a form of digital blackface, and that it reduced Marley to a stereotype.

Among the thousands of tweets objecting to the Marley filter, these two pretty well represent the widespread anger: "I'm disgusted by what I've seen from @snapchat today, honestly can't believe this," wrote user @qmvia.

"This Bob Marley snapchat thing is blackface in 2016 effectively. Digital disrespect," wrote user @Elijah.

What’s a parent to do about their kids’ use of this face-swap lens and others like it? First, start with some history.

Marley, who died at age 36 in 1981, was posthumously named by Rolling Stone in 2004 as one of “the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” But more often than not, as Dave Thompson wrote in Reggae and Caribbean Music, the musician has been reduced to a Rastafarian stereotype. Nor did it help matters that the filter was launched on April 20, or 4/20—known as “weed day” throughout North America.

But it's the link to what's known as blackface that has sparked so much outrage. "Blackface was a form of entertainment that allowed whites … to assume cultural stereotypes about people of color for the sake of entertaining one another," explained Joshua Johnson, a public radio host who’s active in the National Association of Black Journalists.

It gained popularity in the 19th century in highly popular minstrel shows, creating exaggerated stereotypes of African-Americans (notably bright red lips and oversized features), setting a foundation for racist caricatures such as "the happy-go-lucky darky" or the dimwitted "Jim Crow."

Evolving attitudes about race during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, not to mention changing modes of entertainment (record-buying and movie-going diminished live performances), effectively curbed minstrel shows. These kinds of racist caricatures lived on in other mediums, however.

Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African and African-American Studies, says that the filter not only supported outdated cultural stereotypes (that all Jamaicans are Rastafarians, wear their hair in dreadlocks, and smoke marijuana), but that all African Americans are harmed by these stereotypes.

It’s also disrespectful to Marley himself. “Who would think this is a good idea? Even if you created a Bob Marley filter, how about not on National Weed Day?” he asked.

I told Neal that the Bob Marley Estate had actually joined with Snapchat to create the filter, in effect providing its blessing. The company’s only public statement on the Marley lens noted its “partnership” with the family and emphasized how much “we respect his life and achievements.” (Snapchat did not respond to repeated inquiries from USA Today.)

Doesn’t the family seal of approval make it okay? Neal replied without hesitation: “Bob Marley is not making any new music. The Estate is in it for the cash.”

CONTEXT

Public radio's Johnson added that the important question when it comes to alleged blackface is context, or motivation. If someone is using a blackface filter and “he was doing it to put a little hip hop or reggae patina on himself and look cooler through an association with a culture that’s not his own, then yes, that’s blackface, [but] a benign form of blackface.”

When is it not benign? Consider what critic David Dennis wrote in The Guardian about white students wearing blackface "Nicki Minaj" Halloween costumes: "In America, it has been clearly established that blackface is something that’s at best in bad taste and at worst an act of unflinching racism. So, by participating in the act, people are admitting that they don’t care who they offend or what symbols of oppression they perpetuate. “

Parents: Read that quote to your kids.

If there’s any good news, it’s that the Marley filter is no longer available, as many Snapchat filters have short half-lives. (It still can be used by those who previously downloaded it.) And as others have noted, other photo filters still have face-swapping options that can act as a defacto blackface.

THE TAKEAWAY:

So if you've got a teen or tween using Snapchat filters, here’s my advice:

• Talk about race: Duke University’s Neal recommends asking your kids these questions: Have you ever listened to any Bob Marley music (other than “One Love”)? What do you know about Bob Marley or what it means to be a Rastafarian? “This is an opportunity to raise these questions and it's a wonderful opportunity to talk about the legacy of Bob Marley, other than he smoked a lot of weed in his lifetime,” Neal said.
• Explain why reputation matters: Johnson also sees this as a teachable moment. Parents need to sit down with their kids and explain, “You really need to be careful about the way you put yourself out there in the world. These images are like playing with fire. Take this filter off your phone and don’t look back at it.” Ditto for other filters that have a blackface option.
• Know your kids’ apps:  While new apps come out just about every day, Snapchat is more popular than ever (more than 60% of teens are Snapchatters according to the company). If anything, parents, teachers, and other adults need to stay up to date on this stand out app. Neal warns parents to “engage with your kids,” 

How would you talk to a teen about Snapchat’s Bob Marley lens?  Let me know in the comments section below.

USA TODAY columnist Steven Petrow offers advice about living in the Digital Age. Submit your question to Steven at stevenpetrow@gmail.com. You can also follow Steven on Twitter: @StevenPetrow. Or like him on Facebook at facebook.com/stevenpetrow.