The White House Remembered a “Legend” And….Now We Have Another Harambe Meme

Another week where The White House just can’t stay away from Internet memes. This time, it’s Harambe and people are confused.

Apparently, this week was the anniversary of Harambe breaking into the national conversation. And, that’s enough to warrant a memorial post from official government accounts, I guess. It’s a long message with seemingly a lot more “care” than a lot of American citizens have received in the last two years. 

Here’s what hey had to say below. What a goofy place we live in, and really we’ve been here for a while.

The White House wrote, “Today, we remember a legend. On this day in history, Harambe would have celebrated another birthday. An icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline.”

“Tomorrow marks 10 years since we lost him. Ten years since the moment the world stopped scrolling and collectively mourned something bigger than a meme,” they added. “He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.”

“Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on,” the account concluded. “Gone, but never forgotten. Rest easy to a true patriot. May 27, 1999 — May 28, 2016 Forever in our hearts.” 

Why in the world are we talking about Harambe?

So, for a lot of folks online, Harambe is kind of a signifier of mid 2010’s Internet culture writ large. A random gorilla in a Cincinnati zoo becomes a national story because the zookeepers had to put him down to save a toddler who fell into the enclosure. 

But, there is some crucial subtext that a lot of people reading the story might miss. Why is the White House using this particular moment in pop culture history to memorialize? Well, back in 2016, white nationalists used Harambe as a meme because the animal was euthanized to save the life of a Black child.

In essence, they probably don’t really care about the gorilla. More broadly, they could be thinking that the gorillas life was more important than this black kid’s life. And for that, Harambe deserves to be a martyr for the cause. Even though, it’s literally a gorilla? All of this is obviously subjective but still.

Such are the pretzel knots that racism and Internet culture can tie your brain into when they’re exposed to enough nonsense. And, the medium, this case being social media, will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. 

No one remembers this detail about the story. Harambe goes neatly into the Internet history books alongside The Babadook, the Mannequin Challenge, D*** Daniel, and “Pokemon Go to the polls.”

Often, when dealing with this particular administration, all you have to do is dig a little bit and the answers reveal themselves. So, sad about the gorilla, I guess. But, another rancid post from The White House.

The memes will continue

 Of course, all this is by design. The 24 hour news cycle and social media as gasoline poured upon that already raging fire do little to stem the tide of small controversies. But, it is important for people who are paying attention to catalog some of this for the future. (Provided that that future does come to pass.)

As we know from all sorts of different science fiction media and other creative outlets, it’s easier to flood the zone with 1,000 small terrible things rather than one ghastly entry. It splits people’s attention and allows things to go unchallenged. So, here’s just one brick in the wall for today.

(featured image: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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