Hey, white Steven Universe fans. These are all the POC in the cast of Steven Universe. You notice how 3 of the 4 leads are WOC? Or how this is more than 2/3 of the extended cast of the show? Representation matters. Trying to litigate the racial background of these characters because you want to identify with them as white is fucking shitty. Stop it. White people are massively over-represented in TV shows and movies. We don’t need to steal back characters whose creators have deliberated coded as non-white.
EDIT: Since this keeps going around, I wanted to edit the original with the 9 additional people of color who’ve since joined the Steven Universe cast.
what white people think racism is: when you mean to someone because of their race
what racism really is: social and legal systems that puts a race beneath another, vilifying them, fetishizing them, sexualizing them, and creates a usually negative bias towards that group.
where childhood is not an option when you’re the villain or where you are always seen at a child’s level no matter your age
where you are always responsible if someone else says/does something racist towards you, because existing invites aggression somehow
where you do not fit beauty standards, because beauty is afforded to the human, and your conditioned low self-esteem lets you know that
where you’re either synonymous with violence, stupidity, or infantilization, because you cannot make your own choices that aren’t irrational.
where your feelings are routinely invalidated and your daily life experiences are not enough evidence and cannot be trusted, because you’re a suspicious character whose humanity is always on trial. so you do not get to define universally what racism is
where you do not get feel anything besides rational at all times, to be carefree or upset or angry without it being a stereotype of you overreacting to everything
where if you fit into a stereotype it could mean your death and the rest of your race tries to put you down as a self-elevating technique, because they have internalized the lie that when you deny your race and culture you become human. where fitting a stereotype means “see i knew they where all like this”
where if you don’t fit into a stereotype you are not your race and culture, because people have such narrow views of what you’re supposed to be that you cannot possibly exist and be your race at the same time, so people of every race take away yours. Oreo. Banana. Coconut. Apple.
where you will legally get more time for the same crimes
where you will socially be demonized more for the same crimes
where when you quell the crimes keeping your race down, there are always more that’s made up to keep you in your place (The War on Drugs =_=)
where you get paid less for the same work
where you get hired less with the same qualifications
where having a culturally-coded name that’s not acceptable, like Ibrahim, Jose, or Unique can stop you from getting a job
where there are so many things in place to keep you impoverished and uneducated but it’s still your fault if you don’t have the strength and good luck to defy the lack of social mobility and create your own
where entire countries whose cultures and economies have been destroyed are trying to restart alone and the people that destroyed them blame the country for its own destruction
where the farther your features are from your race the more beautiful you’re considered
where your rank in social hierarchy changes how people treat you the more they find out about your identity, and the more marginalized you are by coming out of the closet or not being christian or not being able-bodied and neurotypical the worse you get racism, because you are a bigger target for various acts of violence and microaggressions
where you get used to microagressions before you hit double digits
where your most recent experience with a microaggression was probably yesterday if the day just started
where you idea of a microaggression is the white summation of racism
where your family teaches you how to assimilate to white culture to try and protect you from all of the above
where your death is an opportunity to blame you for it and demonize you in your grave
