Does this 21-year-old deserve to be labelled a racist forever?

An Australian girl has become the internet’s biggest villain overnight after the photos from her 21st birthday party went viral. Planning to travel overseas and do aid work in the future, Olivia’s party was themed ‘This is Africa’ and she asked that guests come in fancy dress.

Here’s what happened next:

As you can see, Olivia – the 21-year-old host of the party (pictured as Cleopatra, above) – then posted the photos of her celebration on Facebook.

She’s since been publicly vilified. And not just on social media. A whole heap of international websites have jumped on the incredibly offensive photographs and labelled Olivia as racist.

Buzzfeed called their post: “The Incredibly Offensive Photos From An “African”-Themed 21st Birthday Party”. Jezebel called theirs: “Racist 21st party gleefully documented on Facebook”. Huffington Post went with: ‘African‘ Themed 21st Birthday Party Shows Attendees In ‘BlackFace’ And KKK Costumes.”

Locally, Pedestrian TV said the pictures “legitimised The Daily Show correspondent John Oliver’s observation that Australia is one of the most comfortably racist places he’s ever been.”

Olivia, confused by the reaction to what she says was just an innocent party, posted a response on social media.

Here’s a taste of it:



It was my ‘African themed’ party and it was honestly made that theme because I have always wanted to go to Africa (to teach english) but haven’t made it there yet. In no way was this party intended to hurt anyones feelings or upset anyone at all.

If anything this was to celebrate the amazing country and people. However, some guest did decide to paint themselves, although this was in no way my intention or encouraged in the slightest. I understand that this has offended some people and I have no idea how these photos have even been seen, they were simply put on facebook for my guests to see the photos of themselves.

Again I am sorry for those I have offended and the photos have now been removed now that I have eventually been made aware people were upset. For those who know me at all you would know the last thing in the world I would want to do would be to offend people.

Now, with Olivia’s best of intentions in mind, how about we unpack this a little further.

Were many of the costumes at Olivia’s party offensive and wrong?

Yes.

Should Olivia have refused entry to those who came to her party dressed as members of the KKK or painted in black face?

Yes.

Should Olivia have realised that the costumes were offensive and refrained from posting pictures online?

Yes.

And most importantly, was what happened at the party racist?

Undeniably.

But does this girl really deserve to be vilified on a global scale for this particular mistake? That’s where the answers are a whole lot less clear.

The party Olivia hosted and the fancy dress of the guests was naive and appalling. It is quite unbelievable that there wasn’t one person who called Olivia or her parents out on the incredible offensiveness of how some guests were dressed. That the party was then promoted on social media as a merry affair is also pretty gross.

But does Olivia deserve to have her name and face plastered all over every major opinion website in the world? Forever existing in internet search engines as the Racist Australian Girl?

We now live in a world where everything is recorded and nothing can be erased. Websites around the world – including this one – run content based on ordinary people’s extraordinary or remarkable actions every day.

Sometimes those actions make us laugh or impress us or excite us.

Often they make us despair.

But we rarely stop to think about what happens to the individual involved when the public outrage dies down and they’re left with nothing but an irreparably damaged online footprint. One drunken stumble or lone dance at the bus stop can end up on Youtube and be the thing that defines you to the world forever.

It’s obvious from Olivia’s written response, and indeed from the photos themselves, that her racism comes from a place of ignorance rather than one of malice. It’s clear from her bewildered commentary that she doesn’t understand the significance of blackface or have an appreciation of how overwhelmingly offensive and traumatising a KKK hooded figure can be.

Now that’s embarrassing and ignorant. But does she deserve to have this mistake follow her for the rest of her life?

Over to you: Do you think the internet treatment of these photos went too far? Or was the behaviour so disturbing that it deserved to be called out?

NB: Mamamia has deliberately decided not to publish Olivia’s last name.