Star Wars VII proposed boycott online is seriously racist

Twitter hate strikes again, but the #BoycottStarWars tag trending online takes trolling to a despicable level.

I’m just still in shock that this is actually a thing.

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Apparently, there are people who are claiming that the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII movie promotes an anti-white agenda.

No, this is not a joke.

Of course, many were just as appalled by the hashtag.

Others horrifyingly supported it with racist tweets that literally left me sick to my stomach.

And still more claimed that the hashtag wasn’t even real and just an excuse for people to use trolling to bring up a non-issue.

As a writer, I am not often left speechless. But my brain doesn’t seem to know where to even begin with the wrongness of this movement, which has gained so much traction that it is trending on Twitter. And the feed is full of ignorant comments that just make me sad for the world.

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And it just makes me want to see Star Wars VII even more because negative, racist thoughts like this just aren’t allowed to dictate the conversation. It can’t be allowed.

We should be better than this. We should be more accepting and more loving than this.

I’ve worked with J.J. Abrams in the past. He is a kind, genius of a man who is doing what a great director should do by recognizing that diversity only enriches a movie and its characters. And that isn’t something that he’s forcing into the Star Wars franchise. We’re talking about an intergalactic world here, where the movie wouldn’t be complete without as many different-looking beings as possible, whether human in origin or not.

I can’t wait to see the richness Abrams brings to this world that I, and many others, grew up loving. The franchise can only be better for it. The characters that we see on screen can only be better for it.

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No one should be questioning that intention. It just shouldn’t be allowed. Period.

UPDATE Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. PT: Yesterday, Selma director Ava DuVernay responded to the hashtag with her own: #CelebrateStarWarsVII.

As soon as she did, Twitter’s response to Star Wars VII took a turn for the better.