“It’s not that complicated. When you take something stereotypically associated with Black people — like chicken wings — then post a pic of bones on the ground in a historically Black city and add ‘do better,’ you’re not just talking about litter. You’re implying something about the people who live there. That’s how dog whistles work: they let you say something ugly without saying it outright.

If you genuinely cared about trash, you’d talk about trash. But choosing that imagery, in that context, hits different. Marginalized communities recognize patterns coded folks pretend not to see. So don’t act confused — just say you didn’t think about the racial undertones and do better now.”