Democrats Wearing Kente Cloth | Know Your Meme

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Democrats Wearing Kente Cloth is an image macro series featuring photographs of prominent Democratic government leaders, such as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, wearing Kente cloth, an indigenous Ghanian textile, during a tribute to George Floyd a black man killed in police custody after a former officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Some online mocked the choice of dress, criticizing the Democrats for using this traditional garb as a political prop.

Origin

On June 8th, 2020, Democratic leaders took part in a moment of silence for George Floyd and announced the “Justice in Policing Act of 2020,” legislation for police reform that bans chokeholds, creates a National Police Misconduct Registry, mandates racial bias training and more (examples below). During the event, they wore Kente cloth around their neck and over their shoulders.

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That day, people began joking about the Democrats wearing Kente cloth. Twitter user @actioncookbook, for example, tweeted a photograph of Pelosi and Schumer looking stern in the cloth and wrote, “Imagine being shown this photo in 2019 with no explanation.” Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 115,000 likes and 20,000 retweets (shown below).

Throughout the day, others joked about the images. Twitter @EricHaywood tweeted, “What if they, like, just passed some laws instead of dressing up like a Wakandan chess set?” The tweet received more than 124,000 likes and 31,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Comedy writer Steen Castillo posted an edited photograph of the parent characters from the film Get Out wearing Kente cloth with the caption “Democrats today.” Get Out director Jordan Peele retweeted the image and posted an emoji pointing to the image. The retweet received more than 294,000 likes and 52,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, center).

Some online defended the Democrats. Twitter user @Selena_Adera tweeted, “Please don’t get fooled by Cosplay Performative Outrage: July 2019, Nancy Pelosi & Black Caucus members travelled to Ghana to observe the 400th of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. They were given Kente in honor of their visit & the developing solidarity between our countries.” Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 5,300 likes and 3,100 retweets (shown below, right).

Some took issue with the Democrats’ dress. Writer
Obianuju Ekeocha tweeted a video criticizing the Democrats. She wrote, “I had to say something about the American politicians shameless and ignorantly using the Kente fabric as a prop in their virtue signaling. *I’m usually more mild mannered than this so please forgive me, I’m upset.” The tweet received more than 744,000 views in less than 774,000 views, 46,000 likes and 23,000 retweets (shown below).

I had to say something about the American politicians shameless and ignorantly using the Kente fabric as a prop in their virtue signaling.

*I’m usually more mild mannered than this so please forgive me, I’m upset. pic.twitter.com/aZMjgsHujS

— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) June 8, 2020

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