However, there have been satirizations of Black people that preceded hotep that could now be described as such. Hotep is a term that loosely means “I come in peace” but has become an insult for Black people (primarily Black men) who not only prescribe to certain Afrocentric ideas but who signify “a faux-wokeness associated with misogynoir, homophobia, toxic masculinity, and misguided understandings of history and science,” according to the 2017 Outline article, “ The rise of ‘hotep.’” As the article also notes, the rise of its latter meaning is difficult to track. You’ve seen them before: the images of real and fictional figures wearing photoshopped kufi hats and their eyes replaced with glowing beams. Umar Johnson & Who’s Laughing With Him?Īs always, memes help us endure the chaos of this world, and if there were any that provided some comedic relief for us in February - and serves as the focus for our Memes Rule Everything Around Me last month - it was hotep memes. But at the very least, it ended with the release of the first trailer for Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele’s Candyman, which brilliantly transformed Destiny Child’s “Say My Name” into a horror anthem.

Fast forward to the end of the month, ex-NFL player Jack Brewer declared Donald Trump America’s “f irst Black president” during a Black History Month round table discussion at the White House, essentially pulling a “hold my beer” on the pro-Trump antics of Kanye West in 2018. First there was the video of G-Eazy kissing Megan Thee Stallion that led some to wonder if the two were dating (Megan addressed the rumor in a simple and straightforward tweet that, although likely disappointing to G-Eazy, was well-received by those that thought they missed their shot). Here are the best we saw last month.īlack History Month 2020 was rough. Source: Disney In February 2020, hotep memes took over the Internet.

Black baby meme