About

“It’s Okay to Be White” is a slogan launched on 4chan as a “proof of concept” to demonstrate that signs with the phrase posted in public places would be accused of promoting racism and white supremacy.

Origin

On October 23rd, 2017, the STOP/RESET YouTube channel uploaded a segment aired by the Boston television news station WHDH, reporting that police were investigating if white supremacists had placed signs featuring a picture of Uncle Sam with the caption “I want you to love who you are / don’t apologize for being white” at Boston College campus (shown below).

Starting on October 31st, 2017, posts began circulating on 4chan calling for viewers to place posters with the slogan “It’s Okay to Be White” in public places as a “proof of concept” that a “harmless message” would cause a “massive media shitstorm.”^[1]

Spread

On October 31st, 2017, YouTuber mawmoose uploaded a video about the 4chan operation titled “Its Ok To Be White – The /pol/ Halloween special 2017” (shown below).

That same day, Redditor FuckkkDrumpf submitted a picture of the poster on a telephone pole to /r/Anarchism^[6] in a post titled “Racists are putting up Nazi propaganda in my town.” On November 1st, The Washington Post^[4] published an article reporting that posters with the message “it’s okay to be white” were discovered at a Maryland high school, which included a statement from the school’s principal Renay Johnson:

“We are taking this seriously and are investigating this incident. Our research so far has indicated that this may be part of a concerted national campaign to foment racial and political tension in our school and community. The same flier was posted in other cities and communities this week.”

That day, Twitter user @kathleehinojosa^[5] tweeted a photograph of an “It’s Okay To Be White” sign, along with a message that she had “reported to the police” and the hashtag “#HateCrime.” Meanwhile, Twitter user @nnekasensei tweeted a video of herself tearing down one of the signs (shown below).

Also on November 1st, the Boston Globe^[7] published an article about “It’s Okay To Be White” stickers found on electrical boxes in Cambridge Common and Harvard Square, noting that Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick revealed that “officers are looking into the incident.” "On November 2nd, Redditor Aconserva3 submitted a post asking “Is the ’It’s okay to be white’ campaign racist?” to /r/NoStupidQuestions.^[2]

Search Interest

External References