Dear Devon Windsor,
Dear Devon,
I want to acknowledge first how I feel so awful about what you must deal with monthly. I mean do your readers understand how hard it is to be a blonde? Dev will tell you all about it. According to the model it’s a treacherous process, getting your highlights done every month. She also doesn’t speak Paris.
Quite frankly, you rub me the wrong way.
I just scrolled through your instagram stories of the girls modeling your swim suits. Since the last picture you posted on June 4, you have posted 7 more. June 4 you posted about #blacklivesmatter. Beginning June 8 you went back to the swimsuit selfies, and pretty vacation pictures. As of 7 hours ago, you posted a beautiful picture in a bikini, reminding me that I need to hit the gym. You did your job, now you’re finished. As an influencer, it was very important to let your followers know how much you “cared.” I bet you’re a cool person, but I can already see you aren’t the role model I used to think you were. As I watched the 10 minute Instagram story vlogs about Pilates and your morning routine, while others are still trying to support the movement that you attempted to pretend you cared about, it gave me the exact same feeling as when I saw the video of you comparing your blonde hair problems with the issues models of color face. What you’re doing is taking up space that could be used, especially with such a large platform like yours, to spread awareness. I certainly don’t doubt that you donated, as you posted proof. I’m happy that the fear of seeming like a person who doesn’t give a shit moved you to at least take that step.
This is why I unfollowed you.
We live in a world where viewing Addison Rae’s Tik Tok’s is more important than watching the news. We waste time face tuning our selfies and feeling bad for ourselves when we don’t get the amount of likes we thought we would. When I was younger I spent nearly 45 minutes editing my boobs to look bigger in an instagram picture. When I received a majority of the likes from random men I had never met before, I was shattered. That was 45 minutes of my life gone. I could have done about anything else in that time. Instagram has become a platform for us to create these false personas. We get to be whoever we want, hidden behind a screen; a magic mirror convincing our audience that we have these perfect lives, or are in these happy relationships. We try our hardest to prove to our audience that we have it all together, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that you probably don’t.
When George Floyd was choked to death by a police officer, my news feed was cluttered with incoming instagram stories. One time I didn’t see a single story of anything else other than Floyd’s face or “Justice for Floyd.” This was really cool, until the media stopped caring as much.
Devon Windsor (you) was my idol for the longest time. The model and influencer posted rapidly about Black lives matter for a total of two days. When the news died down she went straight back to the swim suit selfies and advertising her luxurious life. This made me sad. I was almost disappointed to stop following her account. This was someone I looked up to. I looked up to her always “optimistic” nature, her perfect body, and her fairy tale relationship. She had posted an anti-bullying video at one time, and it actually made me feel really inspired. When I saw her posts regarding George Floyd I looked up to her even more- for seemingly using her platform to promote change and anti-racism. Alas.
On the other hand we have people being criticized for not posting at all. This seems unfair. What about the ones who don’t give a shit about creating a highlight real? My boyfriend uses social media so infrequently that sometimes I forget he has an instagram. He didn’t participate in black out Tuesday, or post one of the many images of George Floyd. He didn’t post a picture of the 50 dollars he donated to an anti-racism organization. Mark was quiet but active in supporting this imperative need for change, and his Black friends and accquitances. I see others doing the same thing. Why are we accusing the people who are not in favor of flaunting their lives or creating a false persona on instagram? “Silence=oppression?” I’m not so sure about that. I see the people who frequently post. The ones whose lives look perfect. It is those individuals who perfectly illustrate “silence equals oppression.” Even more so than Devon Windsor.
It is also not fair to Black individuals, to act the way Devon Windsor did. Fake and vapid. I unfollowed her after five years of idolizing the model. I saw right through the other posts that accquinatances of mine made a point of sharing. White girls that used the N word and suddenly gave a shit about Black lives? You did it because you were scared of not looking like a good person, when really by doing that you made yourself look even worse.
I also noticed the people who did care.
Sometimes I rant. Now to get to the point…
I’ve been feeling that a majority of our white population has been misunderstanding their role in all of this. Making sure that your Instagram was updated with consistent posts for a couple days, is not doing you part. Posting for George Floyd, and not recognizing the countless murders that took place before him. Did we actually post the black square for black out Tuesday because we want to fight for Black lives, or did we do it because we wanted to fight for our social media identities? Did we merely just want others to see that we posted a black out square, and think “oh yep they are a good person!” Did we actually believe people would think that? Or even care? I guess I see that this would relieve anxiety for people- knowing that they “did their part” and are “in the clear.”
How many of us instantly donated to organizations, rather than spending time looking into what the organizations stood for. Did you do it because this cause meant something to you, and you wanted to support Black lives, or just to be able to post the receipt? It takes 30 seconds to plug in your credit card number, but for some of you that 30 seconds was spent scrolling through instagram.
I’m also going to present this question. How many of you have ever heard of Kalief Browder, raise your hand. He was accused of stealing a back pack, ended up in a prison that was known for its violent guards, and eventually committed suicide after spending years in solitary confinement.
How many have heard of Sandra Bland?
If George Floyd was the only person you posted about, you are not doing your job.
Don’t be the girl who complains about being blonde. Devon Windsor, you’ve lost my vote. Instagram has fortunately become a platform where we can get information about anti-racism activity, and a lot of it often. To suddenly see Devon (you) so actively in support of this movement, and then reading an article from Allure.com where you compared a black woman’s struggles to your experiences being blonde?
This is what I’d like to share for the week. Although it isn’t the most uplifting piece to read, I must be honest.
X-
Greta
