It’s a war of the words out there, folks. When it comes to the next debate or discourse, there are few survivors, and the casualties are left to rot in their columns and blogs and advertised YouTube videos. A raging war against media outlets is ever present under this administration, and the rights of speech are under trial by every sect in society.
Two weeks ago, we at The Daily 49er witnessed one such battle. The opinion piece titled, “Milk new symbol of hate?” received 240 comments online and negative feedback on social platforms. I pitched the idea for an opinions piece to our staff writers, having read a couple of articles hinting that milk was being used by white supremacist “trolls” for a gag joke which was embedded in concepts of dairy, race, lactose intolerance and white masculinity.
As the Los Angeles Times reported in March, our staffer analyzed the context which cookie’s favorite drink was being represented in: aforementioned “trollers,” who disrupted Shia LaBeouf’s livestream art performance, “He will not divide us,” in a milk-drinking party. The article also discusses arguments made in a Mother Jones article from August of last year, which scrutinized dairy recommendations within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and a scene out of Jordan Peele’s recent film, “Get Out,” wherein a white lady is portrayed sipping on a glass of milk for an uncomfortably extended moment.
If one would take the time to make a quick search entry for “milk chugging Nazis,” one would see that there were literal skin-heads chugging milk in front of the camera, donning neo-Nazi tattoos on their shirtless bodies while chanting and circle jerking. If you are confused about the implications regarding neo-Nazis disrupting a Jewish man’s performance piece; re-read your grade school history book, maybe supplement yourself with a proper dictionary too.
The writer was not pulling these concepts out of thin air. This could have been an opportunity to discuss this cultural moment, and how it reflects white supremacy in America or why, out of everything, milk was the prop of choice. But instead, people were quick to shut down the article in its entirety — and in doing so, arguably defended those ridiculous actions of the white supremacist “trolls.”
The writer’s overall message aimed to inspire readers and milk-drinkers alike to be critical of what they consume, that institutions like the dairy industry, which replenish our grocery shelves are often built on the backs of the exploited – the misrepresented and abused. A stance which also inspected a critical cultural moment: live video footage which displayed a crowd of shirtless young skinheads donning neo-Nazi tattoos and chugging absurd amounts of milk.
Despite this odd use of milk, immediate response to the opinions discredited the writer completely. Many called it a joke, they cried that there were more important things to talk about, and thought it a ridiculous notion to discuss milk, of all things. Readers who were confused over the criticism of something as banal as dietary guidelines did not consider the way that it was being used by a very specific group of people.
Granted, it is a humorous topic. But it contributes to long-standing discussions about the food we eat. Whether the subject is trivial does not change the fact that milk has become a staple in American diets. And if making connections between milk and racism turns heads, then it is done with the goal to eradicate hateful ideologies as they are perpetuated by individuals, intentionally or otherwise. As made perfectly clear through derogatory comment.
Alt-right spokesmen such as Richard Spencer have taken it upon themselves to re-appropriate everything from Pepe the Frog to combover haircuts. For someone to question the use of milk by fist-swinging extremists is just as important a contribution as the effects of quinoa production in South America, or the history of soul food in southern states.
But before alt-right “trolls” took their jugs to the street, before “Get Out” and the Mother Jones article which revisited the dietary guidelines, U.S. dairy providers were supplying milk to troops during WWI, as explained in a May 2016 video by Vox. Instead of producing less milk, the video explains, milk providers convinced the public to drink more milk. Dairy providers now pay mandatory fees which fund advertising campaigns that promote milk consumption. The fees also provide partnerships with major chain restaurants, such as Domino’s, McDonald’s and Taco Bell, in order to get customers to buy dairy-rich menu items.
As the video offers, this promotion of dairy provides for very unhealthy options. But rather than promote healthier substitutions, dairy (and meat) industries quite literally put their money where our mouths are: paying politicians to defend dairy consumption when the dietary guidelines are up for review.
This is not news. The promotion of unhealthy foods is a crime against working class people of America who rely on fast, cheap foods that are financially supported by the government, dairy providers, factory farms, genetically modified produce companies like Monsanto — institutions which disproportionately affect marginalized peoples.
From this understanding, we might come to a smoother transition as we discuss milk within corrupt institutions. The United States as a post-slavery society is financially founded on the forced slave labor — and one could argue that money hungry dairy providers are the modern legacy of these abusive systems we have learned to condemn.
Racism is alive and well in America. Like the cultures in our cheese and yogurt, it grows. And when people refuse to acknowledge anti-blackness, when people refuse to accept racism in their daily lives, they grow putrid, rotten, dank.
Taste the sour milk on your upper lip — is it worth it?