Are white people boycotting Ebony magazine over a moving series of covers that honor slain teen Trayvon Martin this month?
The Ebony Trayvon cover has been heavily circulated on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. But soon after, a hashtag was also widely shared, #WhitePeopleBoycottingEBONY .
As it stands, there is no evidence white people are boycotting Ebony, and as many have pointed out, it’s a bit like men’s rights activists boycotting Kotex.
But the trending topic is still going strong… and to be fair to those who are claiming as such, there are a lot of white people angry about the Trayvon Martin Ebony cover — one of which features his father, mother, and brother, and all of which have the tagline “We Are Trayvon.”
However, the silliness of a suggested white people boycott of Ebony has raised a few eyebrows, despite the trend’s popularity.
We’ll get to angry white people in a minute, raging against Ebony because they said the words Trayvon Martin. But we first have to quote the skepticism of writer and Twitter user @BrokeyMcPoverty in light of such a claim:
so wait, how did we find out that the tea party is boycotting ebony? yall got some receipts you can show me?
— Brokey McPoverty (@brokeymcpoverty) August 7, 2013
Now to the white people who we imagine might be boycotting Ebony had they ever been customers in the first place. First we have the false equivalence retorts:
Following EbonyMag’s rules. http://t.co/u3RZf3LD0I MT @EBONYMag EBONY takes a stand. #justicefortrayvon
— Melvin Udall (@Melvin_Udall_) August 7, 2013
We also have “Trayvon basically shot himself” defenders:
Sorry, pointing out that Trayvon caused his own death (evidence in trial) isn’t racist. Thanks for playing @GrizzlyStats @jbouie @EBONYMag
— Steve Klein (@SteveKlein62) August 7, 2013
And just some good old fashioned accusations of dishonesty:
What work? Lying to people? MT @EBONYMag We are honored to do this work. #JusticeForTrayvon
— RB (@RBPundit) August 7, 2013
Also, the “black people are easily fooled” one:
Would that work be the misleading of millions of dupable, trusting people? “ @EBONYMag : We are honored to do this work. #JusticeForTrayvon ”
— Future President (@DefinitionOfFaF) August 7, 2013
Ebony even poked fun at the controversy:
We have so many Tea Party readers and followers. To lose all zero of them due to our September cover would be devastating.
— EBONY (@EBONYMag) August 7, 2013
Overall, it seems the “white people boycotting Ebony” over Trayvon Martin meme is just a joke some people thought seemed plausible. For which we don’t entirely blame them.
