REALLY?
I mean, seriously, how does the idea even occur to them? And when it occurs to them, what insanity causes them to go ahead with it?
My wife and I were wondering about this last night, and trying to figure out who would do such a thing. The usual story is that these people did it when they were young and foolish. But back when WE were young and foolish, it never, ever would have occurred to us — and if it had, we’d have run screaming in the other direction. Seriously, what possible good outcome could anyone anticipate from being photographed like Justin Trudeau, above?
The usual explanations don’t hold water at all. Trudeau was supposedly trying to look like Aladdin? Whaaaat? Don’t you think he’d have looked more like Aladdin without the makeup? I do. But maybe y’all have a different image of Aladdin. And if you wanted to impersonate Michael Jackson, seems like you’d just learn to moonwalk.
Trudeau’s apparently obsession with dressing up this way suggests to us that it was something that happened among guys somewhere between my age and the current generation of young people. He’s 47, even though he looks younger. This caused me to put forth a theory that it was the Reagan era that did it. There was a lot of pushing back against the racial sensitivities of the 60s and 70s on the part of the “greed is good” crowd in the 80s.
But then I saw that Virginia’s Northam is technically a Boomer. That shoots that down.
Then we wondered whether it was a Greek thing. In the sense of fraternities, not the nationality. Maybe that’s what makes me mistakenly think no one in my generation would do such a thing. Because people who joined fraternities in my day were seriously out of touch with the times, real outliers, and I had nothing to do with them. And there’s something about these photos that suggests frat life. But maybe that’s because I’m just prejudiced against frats.
The people who believe in Identity Politics would probably assume that, being a white guy, I would understand this phenomenon. But I can’t even begin to. I don’t get it at all.
But maybe some of you other white guys out there can explain it. Or maybe someone else can…
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The closest I ever came to doing something like that was this… in the late 70s or early 80s, I went to a Halloween party as Capt. Willard, Martin Sheen’s character in “Apocalypse Now.” I got the idea when I got my hands on some military-issue camouflage makeup.
I did my face in green, brown and black, wore a green GI T-shirt and green fatigue pants, and strapped my Dad’s old KA-BAR knife from Vietnam onto my belt.
It was pretty effective. I looked like I was on my way to terminate Col. Kurtz with extreme prejudice. The horror…
But that’s not quite the same thing, is it? So it brings me no closer to understanding the blackface thing…
You showed up at a Halloween party with a KA-BAR knife strapped to your side? Today you’d be sitting in the back of a cop car and probably on the 11:00 news.
We had a drummer who dressed in blackface one Halloween.He was our new,”black drummer”.Our old black drummer(biological) had been arrested for selling weed.It was a party for some arts group and not too many people there or we probably would have dissuaded him.Everyone was fine with it,including the black people we encountered that night.He was also drummer for blues musician,Drink Small.
It was never a big deal.RIP,Randy.
In college, a couple of my roommates/friends and our girlfriends dressed up like “gangsters.” We bought toy machine guns and “chasséd” into the college bars. As I recall, some people thought it was funny, others thought we were being dangerously stupid. Looking back, the latter reaction seems more appropriate.
As with you, that memory does not help me understand “the blackface thing …”
“But back when WE were young and foolish, it never, ever would have occurred to us.”
There’s your explanation: it’s a generational thing. Even just a few years can make a difference. Those who grew up in the Civil Rights era knew, or were made aware, that blackface wasn’t cool anymore. It was something from their mama and daddy’s generation, or even earlier. So it not only fell into disfavor and out of fashion, it was pretty much forgotten for a time – along with direct knowledge of what made it distasteful. Then along comes a new generation less aware of what blackface was and, perhaps more importantly, feel that their blackface isn’t the same as the old blackface because, in contrast to their elders, their motivations aren’t the same: they’re not mocking black folks, they’re emulating them. That may not apply in every case, but I think in many it does.
From that picture it’s probably because he was dressed up as a genie. How many Scandanavian or Irish looking genies have you seen? Technically I believe they said he was in “brown face” in that picture which would make sense if he was trying to come off as someone from the Middle East. People are just way too thin skinned these days. Dave Chappelle used to dress up like a white news anchor, I thought it was funny, I didn’t get offended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRZN7IzvCVs
Would this clip be considered offensive?
And here we have another part of the problem: Folks who believe that black folks “whiting up” is no different than white folks “blacking up.” Just like there are some white folks who seem to think that it should be ok for them to use the N-word simply because black rappers do it.
This shows the total lack of appreciation of the history of race in America. Or the willful ignoring of it.
What actions/words are only appropriate for white people to use as part of their history/culture?
I think you lose a lot of support for improving race relations by suggesting there are words that are considered offensive / appropriate based on the color of the skin of the person saying them. Can a mixed race person only use half of the N word and color half his face?
I believe his view could be considered racist. It appears that actions are deemed good or bad based on the person’s race. If a white person does it, it’s bad. If a non-white person does the same thing, it’s okay. Being that the acceptance is based on the race of the person, I do believe that to be the textbook definition of a racist comment.
As a honky, I hope no one else of a different race dares to use that word. I embrace my honkiness. Am I right, my honkies?
Okay cracker…
So if I understand your point, it’s only bad if it’s done by a white male. Is that what you’re saying?
I understand what Mr. Smith is saying here. The history and experiences of white folks and black folks in this country are so radically different that yes, even the words we speak and the things we do carry carry different connotations depending on the color of our skin. It would be nice if it weren’t so, but it is, and we can’t change that by saying it’s not fair. The experiences that led to those differences weren’t fair, either.
Would you allow a black student to use those words in a classroom without comment? Would you not respond if a fellow black teacher used them in a classroom? How about a school superintendent addressing the public?
Removing the word from ALL contexts would be preferable in my opinion. It doesn’t promote harmony.
Of course not. Context matters. Removing its use from all contexts won’t happen, so there’s no point in wishing for it. We have to live in the world as it is, not as we wish it were.
Yes, Norm, that’s the point — which Doug and David appear unwilling to accept.
Given our history and history more generally, the onus in on them to demonstrate that words like “N_____,” “Coon,” “Yid,” “Kike,” “Spick,” “Chink” or fill-in-the-blank should be ok to use by someone who is not part of one of those racial or ethnic groups. I think they’d be hard-pressed to make that case.
Color-blindness does not and cannot involve history-blindness for it to mean anything.
So as to repeat what Doug says, it’s okay for a black teacher to call student a n_____ in class but a white teacher better not even think that word.
For that matter, can a female teacher call a female student a bitch, can a gay teacher call a homosexual student a fag/dyke in class? I’m just trying to figure out where the line is drawn.
I don’t think Doug is saying it’s OK. He’s questioning whether it’s OK, and the fact that he questions it indicates that he knows it isn’t.
We draw our own lines based either upon our personal sensitivities to others feelings or upon our perceived consequences for ourselves.
Would you admit, Mr. Smith, that there are probably a very high percentage of adult black Americans who have a problem with black people using the N word? I’ve spent 30 years as an adult in South Carolina, living in a community with schools that are mostly black, and I don’t recall a single case when I heard a black adult use the N-word… If it’s so acceptable because of history, why would that be?
We’re all better off if EVERYBODY removes those words from their vocabulary.
Who suggested “it’s so acceptable”? I sure didn’t. The only reason I brought up the use of words was as a parallel example to rebut the claim that if “they” do this, then “we” should be allowed to do that.
On the other hand, I’m not about to go around telling other ethnic groups what they should or shouldn’t call other members of their group among themselves. If some folks want to call each other “rednecks,” that’s their decision.
Bing Crosby and Judy Garland among many others performed in black face back in the 30s and 40s. Culturally we’ve come a long way.
Going back and savagely attacking unaware, insensitive, and even racially prejudiced deeds leaves no room for change, becoming aware, overcoming bad judgement or even repentance. Why bother to even change if the attack brigade is going after you savagely anyway? Stay out of public life if you’ve ever done anything using questionable or bad judgement. We were raised in a society where racism and prejudices pervade private life. What matters is where you are now (still growing I hope) , and what you are doing about it.
I’ve known a couple of people who darkened their faces in costumes out of admiration. They are just as susceptible to attack as racists and mockers. S lot of blame-throwers need to use some judgement. Some just strike out blindly because of hurts.
https://bittersoutherner.com/dear-disgruntled-white-plantation-visitors-michael-twitty-cooking-gene
This is an interesting perspective on the anchors (or echos of ambivalence) that make it hard for the South to make peace with itself. How about we all just acknowledge that the South has a very complicated history; and that the underlying issue was, and still is, slavery? There is still so much avoidance of this reality.
Thanks for referencing this. I look forward to reading it — since it’s by Michael Twitty. I can wholeheartedly recommend his book, The Cooking Gene, both from a historical as well as from a culinary perspective. Plus, some of his roots are in SC.
I didn’t know him, but after reading this piece I added the Cooking Gene to my to read soon list.
Take a look at his website, too:
https://afroculinaria.com/
The only explanation for such behavior that I can conceive is that the people who do these things were raised in such homogeneous environments that the inappropriateness of their behavior never even reached the level of abstract discussion. I knew from a young age that blackface was inappropriate. I don’t know when, where or under what circumstances I realized it, but it was well before I was college age.
I’m willing to take his word when he says he has had a privileged life and had a blind-spot about it. (Though the fact that this last one seems to have been when he was about 30 gives me pause.) My own sensitivities have become more acute and refined as I’ve gotten older. There are things I thought and said as a young man that I would be ashamed to think or say today.
OK, I know that I’m trespassing on Doug’s turf, but let me play the cynic on this one.
Trudeau says, “I’ve always acknowledged that I come from a place of privilege but now I need to acknowledge that that comes with a massive blindspot.”
Let’s take a close look at his choice of words. He’s using the words that “woke” people everywhere have told white guys they should use to describe themselves, and beating himself up in the currently ideologically approved manner, citing his alleged “blindspot” as a result of his “privilege.”
It’s sort of like the next words out of his mouth are going to be, “So will y’all get off my case now?” (OK, so he probably wouldn’t actually, literally say “y’all,” but you get my point…)
To what extent are we supposed to view this confession as legitimate?
I mean, let’s take a look at his “privilege:” He’s the son of a previous prime minister. He GREW UP in politics! So how are we supposed to believe that he would be ignorant of how such an idiotic act would play politically?
It strains credulity…
To what extent are we supposed to view this confession as legitimate?
With politicians, apologies and confessions are always suspect. And as I said, his age at the time causes me greater concern than the incident in high school. But since he apparently got away with it the first time without anyone calling him out on it, why wouldn’t he blind to its affect later?
I don’t think he should be given a pass on it. He should have known better. I’m just saying that I am inclined to believe him when he says he did not.