Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you know who Harambe is. Just in case you don't, he was the gorilla that was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a young boy slipped into his enclosure.
Harambe, may he rest in peace, has since joined the ranks of countless viral internet memes with song parodies and even his own line of merchandise. But this slain primate is more than just a meme, he is the embodiment of a rebellion against an emotionally-driven, severely misguided search for social justice.
Immediately after the shooting of Harambe, the Internet was buzzing with condemnation for the Cincinnati Zoo for their decision to kill the gorilla to protect the child in his grasp. The hashtag, #JusticeforHarambe quickly began trending on social media as people voiced their outrage at the "unjustified" and "tragic" death of the gorilla, despite the clear danger that Harambe presented to the life of the young boy.
The popularity of Harambe memes is a reaction to the irrationality of people protesting the death of a gorilla and disregarding the life of the young boy.
But social justice warriors, never happy being the butt of a joke, are now wanting to purge the internet and college campuses of Harambe's presence.Their tactic in getting rid of Harambe?
Racism.
A Fusion article, Your Favorite Harambe Memes Are Racist. It's Time To Stop Using Them writes, "there’s another side to Harambe’s popularity—one inexorably tied to racist ideas about black people, Africa, and gorillas—that plays a large, troubling role in the memes’ collective staying power."
Similarly, on college campuses there has been a banning of Harambe memes and references. University of Massachusetts sent a letter to resident students saying, "Any negative remarks regarding ‘Harambe’ will be seen as a direct attack to our campus’s African American community."
Later, Clemson University sent a similar letter to Freshman writing, "If residents are asking why they have to take them down you can share that there was a report from an individual about a meme being offensive and bias [sic] in nature and as a result all Harambe references are no longer allowed within our community."
Moral of the story? If you like Harambe memes, you're a racist.
Except not.
Harambe memes were started in jest, in reaction to the overreaction from those that put the life of a primate over the life of a child. Not seeing where racism comes in? Let me enlighten you.
The racism comes from the social justice warriors themselves. To discredit and silence the internet phenomenon that is at their own expense, they throw around buzzwords to enforce their own form of cultural marxism.
The irony? Social justice warriors (i.e. Vox, Fusion, etc) are the only ones making the disgusting comparison between Harambe and African Americans.
The implication that all people who enjoy Harambe memes are using it as a way to express or revel in closeted racism is laughable. One could almost say it is deplorable.
