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Racism is a problem that affects almost every aspect of life including cartoons. In Anime shows the lack of diversity in characters has always been an issue that many people tend to overlook. However, in recent times anime creators around the world have been actively trying to create a more diverse array of characters and voice overs that shows a true representation of the real world. Sadly racists have taken issue to this, and created a new term to disrespect black voice actors in anime shows.
Racist anime fans now refer to black voice actors in anime shows as “nightskins”. For example in one tweet a racist anime fan said, ‘Our holy war against nightskins will never end. You are unfit to voice OUR characters. They are aryan beauty and you are the antithesis to everything that is pure‘. Yes, believe it or not there are racist people who watch Anime cartoons, and actually think that way. Just take a look at these disrespectful tweets below, to these racist anime fans just knowing their beloved white character is voiced by a black person hurts their racist soul.
Black Anime Fans Reclaim ‘Nightskins’ Racial Slur from Racist Anime Fans
One thing about racial slurs is that they are only as powerful as you let them be. Have you ever noticed that some racist people become angry when a person isn’t affected by the derogatory language they are using? In most cases racists are looking for a reaction, and when you give them the reaction they wanted it probably makes them feel good. Naturally, when racist anime fans’ “nightskin” term started being used to describe black voice actors they were probably hoping the black community would be offended. However, what the reactions they got were the complete opposite.
Black anime fans reclaimed the ‘nightskin’ term, and now use it as a term of endearment. The reason being is that the word “nightskins” just sounds cool to most people. It’s like something you would call a superhero like Batman, rather than a racial slur. TikTok user @tonyweaverjr posted a video to make it official that racist anime fans’ “nightskins” term was now owned by the black community, effectively taking away the negative power of the racial slur.
Racist anime fans just made a fool of themselves by calling black voice actors ‘nightskins’. Not only does that show how petty and insecure they are about race, they ended up making a word that sounds too cool to be a racial slur anyway.
Now black people have empowered the word, and made it something positive.
