Twitter users quickly lashed out against The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday afternoon after the organization shared a picture of a toddler holding an American flag and wearing an ACLU “free speech” onesie, along with the message: “This is the future that ACLU members want.”
This is the future that ACLU members want. pic.twitter.com/bAIwuheEco
— ACLU (@ACLU) August 23, 2017
Many in the Twitterverse accused the organization of promoting white supremacy because the toddler in the picture is white. “What? All blond folk! I don’t get this silly post. The future the ACLU wants is a little bond [sic] kid???” one Twitter user said.
After seeing their followers’ point of view — and after the deadly white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month — the ACLU responded with another tweet.
“When your Twitter followers keep you in check and remind you that white supremacy is everywhere,” the organization’s official handle tweeted alongside a GIF of Kermit the Frog saying, “that’s a very good point.”
In response to the ACLU’s original tweet of the blond tike, anthropologist Michael Oman-Reagan shared pictures of black characters in science-fiction movies and TV shows (one, for example: John Boyega in “Star Wars”) with the words “I’d rather have this future.” After some observers slammed his tweet, Oman-Reagan tweeted: “Point made: White supremacy is so normalized, pervasive, that tweeting images of Black people from Sci-Fi in reply prompts racist rants.”
https://twitter.com/NyashaJunior/status/900469335625486336
https://twitter.com/austindelafrog/status/900472972879609857
https://twitter.com/SavageNancy/status/900460509534724096
— 🍉 Dr. Thrasher still cares about Covid & Gaza🔻 (@thrasherxy) August 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/OmanReagan/status/900474751231049728
https://twitter.com/OmanReagan/status/900474104729305088
https://twitter.com/OmanReagan/status/900475390019252224
https://twitter.com/OmanReagan/status/900479867942088704
When your Twitter followers keep you in check and remind you that white supremacy is everywhere. pic.twitter.com/Qx5D5hbKWy
— ACLU (@ACLU) August 23, 2017