Star Wars “fans” are showing their ugliness—and I put “fans” in quotations because those who are being racist towards Moses Ingram and sexist about Leia actress Vivien Lyra Blair are not fans of the franchise. It has been widely known that these “fans” have had quite negative and racist reactions to actors of color in the past. Between John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran in the sequel trilogy, up through the racist attacks on The High Republic host Krystina Arielle and on, it has been a horrific cycle that Lucasfilm and Star Wars has tried to stop with the inclusion of Moses Ingram as Reva/Third Sister in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
From the jump, Lucasfilm warned Ingram about the reaction that could happen, which isn’t doing much. Telling an actor that people will inevitably be racist towards you isn’t exactly protecting anyone, but the official Star Wars account has taken a stand for once in protecting Moses Ingram and issued a series of tweets in support of her. “We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist,” the official account Tweeted.
That was followed up with “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.”
And good. It’s about f**king time we see support for these actors from official channels. I think there was a lot that they learned from the reaction to Boyega, Tran, and even the sexism towards Daisy Ridley during that sequel trilogy era. And while it’s unfortunate that the lesson seemingly had to be learned the hard way, at the actors’ expense, at least the lessons learned are benefiting performers like Ingram in that the official channels for Star Wars are standing behind her and supporting her.
Don’t choose to be a racist
The “criticisms” of Reva are all things either explained in the show (like the biggest nonsense complaint about how she could know she could get to Obi-Wan through Leia) or just generally come from a place of unfounded hatred towards Moses Ingram simply for existing within the Star Wars universe. As the official account tweeted out, “don’t choose to be a racist.” Because that’s really what this boils down to. These “fans” don’t like the idea of their lead antagonist being a Black woman, and that’s it.
Right now, their “argument” against the official account is that Lucasfilm is attacking fans. No. Lucasfilm is calling out racists. And if you think that’s an attack, then don’t be racist! It’s really quite simple. If a tweet calling out racism is attacking you, good! Racists should be under attack. I think that Moses Ingram’s Reva is a perfect inclusion in the show, and it makes me so sad to know that she wasn’t welcomed into this franchise but, instead, was sent incredibly hateful messages on Instagram.
Ingram explained in Instagram stories that she was getting hundreds of messages filled with racist remarks because of her role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that while no one told her this, she felt like she’s meant to just sit and take it, but she’s not “built” like that. So, she’s speaking out and is grateful to those defending her in the comments and online in spaces she’s not going to put herself in. And then she had a great response to the rest of people being racist and gross towards her. “To the rest of y’all? Y’all weird,” Ingram said, and honestly, I love it.
I’ll defend Ingram at every turn because she’s done nothing wrong. Existing in Star Wars as a Black woman isn’t a crime, despite what racist fans want to believe. Her Reva is fresh and exciting, and I can’t wait to see where the show takes her. And I know that Ingram will do her justice, and we all should support her and fight back against the racists who want her to feel unwelcome. Star Wars should be for everyone—except racists.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
Published: May 31, 2022 03:08 pm