The Primate Playbook: A Racist Refrain That Never Ages
FIRST INSTANCE (1906, USA): The Zoological Gaze One might wonder why, in an age of digital sophistication, political discourse still stoops to imagery straight from the P.T. Barnum playbook. Curiously, this particular brand of dehumanization has rather deep roots. The explicit comparison of Black individuals to apes and other primates circulated widely in racist caricatures and pseudo-scientific
'studies' in the early 20th century. A notorious example: Ota Benga, a young Congolese man, was exhibited in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo alongside chimpanzees and orangutans, explicitly framed as a 'missing link' to demonstrate supposed racial inferiority. This wasn't merely crude humor; it was a deliberate, institutionalized attempt to justify colonialism, segregation, and systemic oppression by
stripping Black individuals of their humanity ( Phillip, 2004 ). REPETITIONS (Mid-20th Century to 2016, Global): Propaganda and Power The underlying mechanism of comparing a targeted group to animals is a staple of propaganda, regardless of geography. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Hutu extremist media, particularly Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), routinely referred to
Tutsis as 'cockroaches' and 'snakes,' serving to desensitize listeners to violence against them and mobilize Hutu militias. Fast forward to the US political landscape, the 'primate' smear made a particularly ugly comeback in 2016 when a West Virginia county official was fired for a Facebook post referring to Michelle Obama as an 'ape in heels.' The post, celebrated by many, demonstrated the