Blackface is ~always~ wrong

[cyranothe2nd]

 

Comments

[jean_c_pepper]

It's interesting you bring this up. I recently went to a Fair Housing panel and the guest speaker was an attorney from New Orleans who ran the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center. He mentions that out of all the things George W. did in his eight years, the one thing that resonated the most with him was Kanye West calling him a racist on national television

[cyranothe2nd]

OMG, I LOVE 'When the Leevees Broke,' along with Eric Michael Dyson's 'Come Hell or High Water.' And yeah, there are things Kanye does that make me crazy, but then he calls GWB a racist and I'm like, "Kanye is the voice of my generation" lol

[jean_c_pepper]

Oh, I feel so bad for your friend. I can empathize as I tend to do alot of 'non-traditionally black' type things myself.(You have to agree that being on a rowing team is not traditionally black). And yes, there's always some idiot waiting to be an asshole. The president has called a LOT of people on their racism, just because of his existence. Example: Louis Henry Gates would never have made the news if he hadn't been a friend of the president. And, Trayvon Martin wouldn't have been news at all(KUDOS to President Obama for pointng out if he had a son, he would look like Trayvonn. HE RULES

[cyranothe2nd]

Oh man, I feel you on slavery. White people CANNOT DEAL with the collective guilt. Deny deny deny.

I've been listening to Cornell West this morning and am now all fired up and want to kick off a revolution or some shit lol.

[jean_c_pepper]

I am going to add some more commentary. The Zulu social aid and pleasure club does go in blackface for the annual Mardi Gras Zulu parade and they have defended it, saying that they are the ones that always do it. They are a predominantly black club in New Orleans.
Also- have you seen Spike Lee's Bamboozled- very good movie on Blackface and it's horrifying place in society. I personally think it's Spike Lee's best(except for When the Levees Broke and God Willing and the Creek don't rise- but those are on NOLA and we've established that I am a pretty big fan of my favorite city) movie- I even like it better than Malcolm X and I am such a Malcolm X fan that one of my son's middle names is in honor of Brother Malcolm.

[cyranothe2nd]

I haven't seen 'Bamboozled' yet, but I'm going to download it now.

I cannot even deal with how awesome Malcolm X is. The man I co-taught the rhetorics of racism class with is a scholar on Malcolm's late work and (I think), converted to Islam because of him.

[thexphial]

Why does one of those idiots have to be sporting a Sherlock icon? SADNESS

[cyranothe2nd]

I KNOW. It is a horrible irony.

[lady_drace]

Vaguely off topic, but when you say "blackface" do you mean the clownish shoe-polish style or just blackening your face in general?

For the record, I know next to nothing of the history of the shoe-polish faces. I gladly admit that I am horribly ignorant. Do go ahead and teach me. :o)

[cyranothe2nd]

Both. There's a long and ugly history in the US of white people dressing like exaggerated caricatures of people of color to mock them, or dressing up as people of color to "pass" as them and deny them jobs in movies and media. That's why any attempt to pretend to be a POC that includes darkening the skin with makeup is seen as insulting, even when it's well-intentioned. Wikipedia has a great article on it here.

[lady_drace]

Maybe I'm just too naïve, but when it comes to halloween or something, I don't see the harm in darkening (or lightening) your skin as part of your costume. But good to know that at least some people might find this offensive too.

[cyranothe2nd]

Maybe in other cultures its not such a big deal, but America has got a lot of racist cultural baggage.