lol I change my mind I’m not done yet

I see a lot of people in the fandom saying things along the lines of “it’s my headcanon!” “you can’t tell me what to think!” etc. This is true. I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do or what you can or can’t headcanon. But please, just for a little while, consider another point of view and try and see how your headcanon can be harmful. Maybe it is only one character, and granted we are a very small fandom, but honestly for poc every bit of representation counts. As you hopefully know they really have been shit on in almost every aspect of their lives for an insanely long time and almost never see themselves in the media. Unwittingly we are taking part in their erasure. Roger is canonically dark-skinned and there’s no debating that. Saying that “you don’t see him that way”, even if you don’t mean it as erasure, is essentially saying “I know this character is a poc but I’m choosing to ignore their heritage anyways”. I’m not trying to antagonize anyone; this is what you’re saying even if that’s not what you really mean. Hell, I’m guilty of this as well. From when I joined this fandom to only just recently I headcanoned him as white simply because that’s how he was portrayed in art, in fics, in practically everything. It wasn’t until I saw roger-sexual’s post that I realized I was in the wrong. I believe this was the case with most people because Roger’s skin is described fleetingly in the book and frankly I had forgotten about it until the post resurfaced, as I’m sure most of you did too. What we need to do now as a fandom is to /acknowledge/ that we have made a mistake. If we completely ignore this (as some posts I’ve seen have said we should) then, pardon my terrible reference but the beast really is us. I was so happy when I joined this fandom because everyone is friends here and I truly felt like I was part of a big family. I’d be terribly saddened if that atmosphere dissipated because we reverted to childish bullying
/and/ that we refused to fix our mess ups, as it were.

Again, I am not trying to antagonize anyone. I am not trying to call you out or bully you or make you feel bad. All I am is asking that we acknowledge the fact that we have made a collective mistake and that we have erased a character’s heritage albeit unwillingly. I really encourage everyone to take a step back, remove themselves from their biases and their emotions, and really think about what is happening and what the best and the right course of action should be.

Note: I am not a poc and if I have “strayed out of my lane”, /please/ (if you are a poc) tell me. I assure you that was not my intention at all.