Why Are Baby Boomers So Emotionally Invested in Aunt Jemima's Future?
For the past year or so, I have been morbidly fascinated by America’s Last Line of Defense, a popular leftist Facebook trolling page that prankishly deceives clueless MAGA extremists with an endless series of fake articles where Conservatives behave heroically and are constantly scoring wins while the Left is guilty of flagrant hypocrisy and continually prove the wisdom of the old maxim, “Get Woke, go broke.”
The Trump-loving baby boomers who flock to the page so frequently that they score “Top Fan” badges never seem to understand that all of the stories shared are fake and specifically designed to mock MAGA cultists who will believe any horseshit as long as it flatters them and supports their worldview. All that matters to them is that someone on the internet says things they like and support, so they will share the good, albeit fake, news throughout cyberspace.
It doesn’t matter how often it’s pointed out that America’s Last Line of Defense is a fake news page; Trump lovers seem to believe the information disseminated by the page is real all the same, on a metaphorical level at least.
I unfollowed America’s Last Line of Defense recently because its shtick doesn’t seem as funny or subversive after Trump was re-elected.
I found America’s Last Line of Defense fascinating because it provides insight into the minds of baby boomers, the MAGA mob, and online idiots.
I was intrigued, for example, by a recent post about how massive boycotts led to Pepsi bringing back the pancake mix mascot Aunt Jemima due to overwhelming public demand after the multinational corporation changed the brand’s name to Pearl Milling Company in 2021.
This made the mouth-breathers who flock to a page dedicated to making fun of them VERY happy. They were all apparently traumatized by Aunt Jemima’s absence and exhilarated by her fake comeback.
That made me wonder why anyone would be so emotionally invested in the fate of a fictional mascot whose roots can be traced back to pre-Civil War blackface, racist stereotypes of black women as mammies and servants, and Jim Crow-era minstrel songs and shows.
The most immediate answer is that a lot of Conservatives are deeply invested in the ridiculous but popular fiction that The United States is not a racist country. Oh sure, we brought black people to North America in chains so that they could toil endlessly for no money, but lots of other countries did as well.
If the United States were ever genuinely racist, then that racism magically and instantly disappeared once slavery ended.
It’s not a coincidence that Aunt Jemima was retired during a culture-wide reckoning about the insidious and pervasive nature of racism following the brutal murder of George Floyd by police officers.
The Black Lives Matter movement terrified many boomers. Aunt Jemima represented a version of blackness they found less threatening and more appealing. Aunt Jemima was happily subservient and perpetually smiling. She made no demands. She was happy to make food for her family and nice white people.
This differed greatly from the popular caricature of a BLM protestor as a scowling, rage-filled extremist angrily demanding change rather than meekly asking for rights.
For Conservatives terrified of progress, the retirement of Aunt Jemima pushes all the buttons. To them, it’s political correctness run amok, a “Woke” move to erase our proud history, and a clear-cut case of “Cancel Culture” gone awry.
Some commenters cheering on Aunt Jemima’s fake return talked about growing up with the character. They don’t want to concede that they grew up finding comfort in a soothing cartoon of black subservience, so they deny that the character is racist so that they can feel better about themselves, both in the past and the present.
The pro-Aunt Jemima contingent also labors under the delusion that she is a real person and the businesswoman who runs the company, not a mascot.
This is a little like thinking that the “Time to Make the Donuts” guy was a real person who was the founder and CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts and not a fictional character played by beloved Jewish character actor Lou Jacobi.
There was a woman who performed under the stage name Aunt Jemima, but she was a white woman of Italian descent named Tess Gardella who performed in blackface. That makes sense, given Aunt Jemima’s origins in minstrel shows and songs.
Conservative fans of racist stereotypes were indignant on behalf of Aunt Jemima and her family and ancestors. True, a former slave named Nancy Green inhabited the role for twenty years. It was undoubtedly a good gig, but that's all it was: a job. There was no “real” Aunt Jemima.
When Quaker Oats retired Aunt Jemima's modernized character in 2000, and new owner PepsiCo changed the brand name from Aunt Jemima to the much less memorable Peal Milling Company, a part of our past died with her.
But it was a racist part of our past that we should relegate to the dustbin of history. The same is true of Song of the South and Uncle Ben and other cozily familiar historical figures old people desperately want to save from progress and contemporary cultural sensitivity.
There are lots of reasons that people are weirdly invested in Aunt Jemima. They just aren’t good reasons.
Nathan needs teeth that work, and his dental plan doesn’t cover them, so he started a GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-nathans-journey-to-dental-implants. Give if you can!
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