
WHAT’S RACIST TODAY: Zookeeping
A Washington Post article this week highlighted the prejudices experienced by zookeepers of color.
WHAT HAPPENED
The feature story, published Monday, emphasized the “unicorn status” of non-white zookeepers and how they are “misunderstood within their profession and their culture.”
Wait so zookeeping is roughly as white as the overall US adult population? That’s the story here? https://t.co/MJPGzAf6tf pic.twitter.com/HAj01BftR9
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 19, 2021
Two black zookeepers recounted being mistaken for janitors and otherwise feeling stereotyped because of their race.
- “I have never experienced, myself, direct, overt racism,” said Craig Saffoe, the curator of large carnivores at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C. “I had a lot of White people helping me, pushing me along.”
- “But, according to the article, Saffoe recently “realized all the times he felt alone, when he was not taken seriously and mistaken for a janitor.”
THE REACTION
A menagerie of Twitter commentators responded to the article with skepticism.
- “Wait so zookeeping is roughly as white as the overall US adult population? That’s the story here?” asked Matthew Yglesias, a progressive cofounder of Vox, referring to the article’s claim that the zoopkeeping field is about 74 percent white, much like America.
- “Zookeeping isn’t common in any community,” noted Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire.
- “What does race have to do with zookeeping?” wondered Leonydus Johnson, a black conservative commentator. “What is wrong with you?”
SAME ENERGY
Axios reported in August: “A national reckoning has drawn attention to the discrimination some people of color face during a run in the mountains or a walk on a trail. The outdoors can be deadly due to bigotry, not just wildlife, lurking in the woods.”
A reckoning has drawn attention to the discrimination people of color face during a run in the mountains or a walk on a trail. But groups like @LatinoOutdoors @OutdoorAfro are helping make safe (and fun) the outdoors for people of color https://t.co/eSgOWxOFTa
— Russell Contreras (@RussContreras) August 22, 2021