The death of an African American man named George Floyd by a police officer has caused turmoil in the United States, with thousands joining in the Black Lives Matter protests across the troubled nation.
While many have shown their support for the movement, there are also those who aren’t too happy at how the protests are being carried out.
Former Miss Universe Malaysia 2017, Samantha Katie James, spoke out against the Black Lives Matter movement through her Instagram account, which has more than 165,000 followers.
Photo: Instagram @samanthakayty
The 25-year-old was quoted to have said that “the whites have won”, indicating that the protesters have responded to the crisis in a poor manner because they were in “rage and anguish”.
Photo: Instagram @samanthakayty
She also told protesters fighting against the injustice to “relax” and to take the crisis at hand as a “challenge”.
She added that people “chose to be born as a ‘coloured’ person in America for a reason” and that people should just “accept it as it is”. “It is what it is”. “It’s inevitable”.
Photo: Instagram @samanthakayty
Samantha shared her thoughts in a series of Instagram stories but the main point she was trying to convey is that many have joined the protests mindlessly without any proper context of the issues at hand (sounds familiar?) and that there are people being born into systemic inequalities such as poverty and hunger and that they should learn to just accept it.
Replying to some of her followers who commented on her posts, Samantha also explained how she was bullied for being “a white girl in a local Malaysian school”. Samantha, who was born in Malaysia to a Chinese mother and a Brazilian father, said that she’s had first-hand experience of being bullied throughout her life.
Photo: Instagram @samanthakayty
When explaining what she meant when she implied that people chose to be born as coloured person, she simply answered because it’s our “souls” who chose this life for us, our country our race, our human form, they’re all thanks to our souls.
“But I chose this all for a reason, as a soul.”
Photo: Instagram @samanthakayty
While Samantha may have thought that she was the next Dalai Lama, social media users were quick to call her out for her blatant racism as outrage sparked across the internet.
The Twitterverse came together and slammed her for her insensitive and racist remarks.
Even comedians and actors such as Dr Jason Leong and Henry Golding went out of their way to “advise” our former Miss Universe on basic human ethics.
Photo: Instagram @henrygolding
Photo: Instagram @henrygolding
Trolls have also taken over her Wikipedia page, editing it to include the term “racist” and the "CEO of Clownery” as part of her introduction on the website.
Photo: Wikipedia
The Miss Universe Malaysia Organization has also responded to the controversy, noting that the postings were “inappropriate, offensive, unacceptable and hurtful” and that they are no longer affiliated with her.
While a local makeup company, Velvet Vanity, that used to be affiliated with her also released a statement confirming that they will no longer be associated with Samantha following the incident.
“As a brand, we support #blacklivesmatter and we would never associate ourselves with racist behaviours in any way,” read the statement.
Just recently, it was also reported that Instagram had also revoked her verified status on its platform.
These are hard times for minorities especially those who belong to the African American community. While we watch from the other side of the world, not fully understanding the gravity of the whole situation, it is never right to downplay someone’s sufferings, let alone the sufferings of a whole race that has struggled with years of oppression and injustice, to equate them to being unjust anger and contempt.
While Samantha’s remarks may have come from a good place, let’s all be mindful that our words carry meaning and that remarks stemming from misinformation and lack of proper knowledge of the issue at hand can be detrimental to society.
Instead of bashing those who are not well-informed and who may have made mistakes, let’s focus on being better by educating ourselves and contributing in any way that we can in fighting the injustices happening across the globe.
What do you think of this issue?
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
