Model Anok Yai has responded to an Instagram post by Carine Roitfeld in which the French CR Fashion Book editor wrote “Miss you” under an image of herself and Yai. In response to a comment on the same post, Roitfeld wrote, “Anok is not a black woman, she is my friend.”
Coming under fire for using her association with Yai to up her bonafides with the black community while also erasing Yai’s identity as a black woman, Roitfeld deleted the post and then issued an apology (above), accurately describing the post as “insensitive” and “tone deaf.”
Born in Egyptian and of South Sudanese descent, the 22-year-old Yai addressed the event today with an essay addressing racism in the fashion industry on The Oprah Magazine. Yai wrote, “When I was blessed with finding a career in modeling, I thought I might stop experiencing racial injustice. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead, racist encounters just became more public and exposing. I can name so many situations where models of color like me have experienced racism and microaggressions. That in itself is a problem.
“The lack of reaction on set or backstage is what often caught my attention. I witnessed so many different situations where models were forced to stand up for themselves with very little support around them, if any at all. The pain and sense of aloneness in those moments of vulnerability were unbearable.”
Speaking to Roitfeld’s post she added, “Of course, it was jarring, and it was just one of many similar microaggressions I’ve experienced during my time in fashion. But the bigger point I’d like to focus on is that the fashion industry needs to become educated…and fast.
“Yet the industry seems to be depending on the black community at large to educate them about black history as if we’re obligated to do so. Black models should not have to teach working professionals how to deal with our hair and skin day in and day out. Educate yourself and come prepared. It’s your job. The world is changing right before our very eyes, and we won’t be tolerant of intolerance any longer.”
Check out the now-deleted post by Roitfeld below.
