Racism - It's a real thing.
- Thread starter NM11046
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teachercd
Active member
Ha! I think I wore a hoodie...grabbed a small branch off a tree and sort if fastened it in front of my face and wore some sunglasses.
It was very last minute!
Nebfanatic
New member
Ultimately I think it has to do with the history of blackface, but I don't know all of the intricacies of why it is offensive. I just know I have heard from many people of color that blackface is offensive so why not just listen to the folks being offended? If they say 'hey thats offensive' why not respect that?
BigRedBuster
Active member
Look, I'm not going to go out next month on Halloween and put black face on because....obviously it's offensive.
But, that doesn't mean we can't have a discussion as to why it's offensive.
OR....why it should ruin someone's career when they did it years ago. Obviously, there are some in Canada who believe that it should. I'm assuming that if pictures showed up of Beto or Biden in black face in his teens, it would cause the same uproar.
Nebfanatic
New member
I think we have answered your last paragraph satisfactorily. It shouldn't ruin someones career in a case like this.
As for the rest, I'm not entirely educated on the why. Again, it probably has alot to do with the history behind it. Both the cartoonish characteristics and the idea that they could have just gotten black men to act for black roles. I'm sure there is reasoning past that as well that I am not well versed on.
This all reminds me of Lethal Weapon 5 :laughpound
Ulty
New member
There is a historical component of blackface - it was traditionally used on stage to portray stereotyped caricatures of black people. Often done in a disrespectful way - a version of black people as presented by racist white folks. It's woven into the contentious fabric of race relations, segregation, and discrimination in this country.
It might be a bad analogy, but understanding why blackface is racist is similar to understanding why the confederate flag is racist. Sure, you can say it is just a flag that some southern states used in the past and represents "heritage" or whatever, but understanding the deeper context behind how the symbol has been used is an important part of the picture. If that's a crappy analogy let me know.
But not understanding why it is offensive? Yep, that is a bit of privilege because perhaps as a white man in Nebraska (I'm making an assumption here), you haven't really had to deal with the ugly history of it and have not been directly impacted by it. Not necessarily your fault, but that's the way privilege works.
Comparing it to dressing like a woman, or any other halloween costume is a fair point, though. I think part of it goes into how you are using the "character" and what message you are sending. Every year going back forever, halloween masks of the president's face have been popular. But there is a difference in putting on a Barack Obama mask versus putting on blackface and then acting in some stereotypical manner. Dressing up like a woman on the surface is not necessarily offensive, but obviously there are more tasteful ways to put on a costume than others. I'm thinking that portraying misogynistic stereotypes in costume is more difficult and less obvious than racial stereotypes.
BigRedBuster
Active member
That's my point. I can fully understand it being offensive if I put black makeup on and then acted in a way that is a negative stereotype towards black people.
But, that's not what is being talked about. It's just simply the fact that a white person had the audacity to put black makeup on in the first place....no matter the character, reason or how they act with it on.
Ulty
New member
Yeah, I didn't see that Trudeau was acting in some stereotypically offensive way... but it just comes back to the historical baggage of blackface. It's pretty much universally regarded as offensive these days, because of historically racist usage. So don't do it. However, that viewpoint was not universal back in 2001. A well-worded statement should take care of it, but it certainly should not ruin his career.
Especially when the country just to the south has a president has blatantly says and does racist things on the regular today, and gets away with it.
Landlord
Banned
Blackface is guilty by association. Maybe that's not fair if you've got some super cool honorable way of looking black, but that's just the way it is and for the time being it's probably better that way. Like, understand why the worst version of it is bad and then understand that people will see innocuous versions of it in a similar light, because there's no real compelling or sensitive reason for you to want to do it.
Anyways, the Trudeau thing is silly and will blow over. There wasn't anything wrong with what he did back then culturally, and culture is what we use to judge ourselves by. Not culture now judging decades ago, but culture then. Also, noobdy who's outraged actually cares. You just get social clout for pretending to care so you convince yourself. It's exhausting.
Anyways, the Trudeau thing is silly and will blow over. There wasn't anything wrong with what he did back then culturally, and culture is what we use to judge ourselves by. Not culture now judging decades ago, but culture then. Also, noobdy who's outraged actually cares. You just get social clout for pretending to care so you convince yourself. It's exhausting.
teachercd
Active member
B.B. Hemingway
Donor
This is true, and should be applied to many instances frowned upon in human history....
Guy Chamberlin
Active member
Years ago my girlfriend and I were going out to the huge Halloween street party in San Francisco. She was going as Medusa --- cool dress, white face, tons of rubber snakes in her hair— and we decided I should go as a stone. What does a stone look like? Well as part of my long tradition of last-second Halloween costumes I used a bunch of greasepaint and went as a totally black rock.
I didn't realize how that might be misconstrued until I got into a crowd of thousands of people.
I didn't realize how that might be misconstrued until I got into a crowd of thousands of people.
B.B. Hemingway
Donor
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Guy Chamberlin
Active member
You know what? With a little more time and effort I probably could have pulled off onyx.
