Anger over Mbali Mlotshwa’s ‘blackface’ post

In support of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag that has been trending on social media recently, where people are opposing violence towards black people, Black Coffee’s wife and Rockville actress Mbali Mlotshwa took to Instagram to share her sentiments on the matter, but she was met with harsh criticism.

Mlotshwa took a stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, only to have her post condemned. The actress posted a picture of herself with a darkened skin tone in an effort to resemble the theatrical make-up used by white actors to represent a black person, known as “blackface”.

It appears that what caused the criticism was not what Mlotshwa wrote, but more the picture she posted.

“Black lives matter in all shades!! When the color of the berry matters not, but how sweet it is does. That will be the day love wins #NaChocolate #GhanaWecare #AfricaWecare #AmericaWecare #Worldwecare #weAreOne #filtersforAllkindsOfBrown When we love ourselves enough to start bleaching browner, when our love for us gets black lives to matter even more, when?” she captioned the picture.

Some of Mlotshwa’s followers saw the post as “disrespectful” and “offensive”. Mbali responded to the comments by saying: “As I’m happy it invoke [sic] some emotional impact. hope the true essence of this message and everything in the picture when analysed further than the colour of the woman’s (me) has come across. Your reaction is my point. We care so much about skin ‘berry’ that forget its essence ‘sweetness ‘. We love yellow bones forgetting, chocolate caramel and vanilla have the same Essenes [sic]! All lives matter no matter where in the hues of the colour wheel they are! Imagine the day we all get that right. We will stop being offended with trivial things and deal with real issues. Mmmm. Once again sorry my interpretation in the matter offended you. Hope this helps u better understand. All love.”

What do you think of her post?