THE RISE OF NIGHTSKINS

Racism is an issue that affects almost everything in today's society, and this also includes cartoons, particularly anime. In essence, anime is more of a culture than just a cartoon in the country of Japan. However, these animated cartoons lack diversity in the characters involved in the anime show itself. The majority of characters in these anime cartoons are white.

However, in recent years, anime creators worldwide have been trying their best to give their anime a unique touch by including diverse voiceovers and characters that represent what's happening in the real world. Sadly, there is always someone that spoils the plot.

Racists have taken to anime and created a disrespectful, racist term for black actors lending their voices in these anime cartoons. Racist anime fans now call them "nightskins." Yes, you heard that right. Racist people also watch anime. There have been various tweets and re-tweets on Twitter that have blatantly included the word "nightskins" as a racial slur. 

However, the best thing about racial slurs is they can either bring you down or empower you. They can only be as hurtful as you let them become. For instance, there have been many times when a racist became angry just because the person being racially abused wasn't affected by derogatory or racist remarks.

Typically, all racist people look for is a reaction from the racially abused person. And if they get this reaction, they feel good about themselves. When racist anime fans started using the word "nightskins" to abuse black voice actors racially, it didn't get an angry reaction. Instead, the black community came together and gave an entirely opposite reaction.

The term "nightskins" didn't anger anybody and was considered an endearment for black people. They're saying that "nightskins" sounds cool. Some black people have said that this term sounds just like a superhero name. This has resulted in racist anime fans making a complete fool of themselves. What they thought would bring out an angry reaction from the black community turned into a term of endearment for most people. What's more, anime creators everywhere are now jumping on the bandwagon and including black voice actors to show their support for the black community.

For instance, CrunchyRoll, a content production/gaming company, "prides itself on helping people belong." They recently announced their voice-acting cast for the English version of their all-so-popular anime cartoon "Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club."

With diversity being the top priority, CrunchyRoll is giving all the haters and racists worldwide a bad headache. They have also hired black voice actors in the past as well to lend their voices to anime characters that don't even look like them.  

Ultimately, we can't say if "nightskins" was used intentionally or was just a Google translator fluke. However, one thing is for sure: thanks to people like Tony Weaver Jr. and content production houses like CrunchyRoll, the term "nightskins" now belongs to the black community and is considered something to be proud of.

At the end of the day, anime was created by Japanese creators for the Japanese market and included Japanese characters. If anime fans want to be or act racist, they should stop watching anime altogether!