Early last week, I was struggling to think about what I wanted to write about for Blogher. But funnily enough, whenever I feel that I am totally stumped something comes up and I'm like, 'yeah!'
Because of what I write about, the fact that I never seem to fall short of topics is not necessarily a good thing. Most of my postings seem to focus on not-so-positive issues in the news - issues that I feel that if not acknowledged would, despite many R&E bloggers posting about them - would go unnoticed. Blogher has a huge readership so posting something on that site is almost a guarantee that perhaps someone who isn't regularly checking the R&E sites will learn of a story or an issue that ordinarily they wouldn't have.
I wrote about the penchant some people still have concerning blackface and other negative black images that seem to occur during Halloween over at Blogher this week, but a few hours later after I put up the post, I got a tweet from my friend, Leah, whom the original story was based on. She alerted me this post on Torontoist about the above fucking idiots in the above picture.
Now to be fair, the writer who posted the story about this greatly misinformed group of U of T students who decided to go to a party depicted as the characters from a shitty 90's movie, Cool Runnings, knew that what they did was off-color ( pardon the pun). If the writer hadn't pointed out who they were trying to emulate I wouldn't have known and thought that they were a bunch of douchebags. Well, I think that anyway....but at least there was a bit of context? I'm trying to be fair, here.
Would I call it racist? No. But by looking at some of the comments, I immediately thought about two things. First, here are some of the comments:
It was always my understanding that that wasn't blackface. It'd be blackface if they had done the exaggerated white mouth that is the primary characteristic of blackface. These guys don't seem to have it.
I don't get it - why is it offensive for a white person to wear makeup to portray a black character on Halloween? They're not displaying any sort of intolerance. I've known people that have been iconic black characters like Shaft for Halloween - and let me tell you, a white dude is not a very convincing Shaft without a bit of makeup. Is it not okay to be somebody for Halloween that has a different skin color than yourself?
And
I don't think blackface has much visceral meaning for the post-Al Jolson generation, and I'm in general agreement with Buck that these lame-ass costumes are more post-racist than racist (can a white guy dress as Obama or is that blackface?).......
From the students in the picture:
.....We are extremely offended by your slanderous article, it not only attacks our moral integrity, but calls our character into question on a daily basis. We ASK you to please consider the consequences of your uninformed accusations on those you use as mediums for debates on race relations and we further DEMAND that you take this down. We don’t deserve your scrutiny and we certainly don’t deserve the negative impact it will surely have on our day to day life.
Before that portion of the comment, the students pulled the 'I have friends of every color' card - "none of my multi-ethnic friends were offended." Plus, the guy with white makeup is black, so in theory, it could dissuade any arguments that these guys were trying to be hateful.
Instead they just come off as being ignorant and probably privileged little boys who relish in their white supremacy - the subconscious attitude that they can do whatever they want, never feel that they have to justify their actions and if someone does dare to critique them, well, then the problem is the critic, not them. How dare you, you bunch of uptight politically correct socialists! This is my right!
So my first thought was that I find this way of thinking (along with the commenter's who always say 'get over it, or 'black people are racist too' as straw-man arguments) very tiring and sad. These kids are not the devil, it's just that this story is indicative of the confusion over what a 'post-racial' society really is supposed to be.
My second thought was not condemning the 'black friend' in the picture, but to feel sorry for him. One of the only commenter's ( and the only commenter I personally know who is black) who was extremely critical of the story was The Carps singer, Jamal Tonge, who I happened to interview a few years ago. This is what he said:
Wow. I can't believe some of the ignorance I'm reading on here.
The fact that white people are "unaware" of the offense somehow makes it ok? That is supposed to be a justification for the years of subjugation and embarrassment black people have dealt with? The years of racist stereotypes predicated on this VERY thing??
It is not simply the act of rubbing shoe polish on your face and drinking overprice booze and some douche bar. It's the reminders and memories of a time when black people and all people of color were seen as stupid, thieves, liars and super sexual. Ready to rape and eat a white woman at any time.
Blackface is among one of the most intensely offensive and racist things any person can do in this day and age. And the fact that these tools potentially don't know about it is NO excuse. It doesn't mean we are forgetting about racism? (Why are some people so quick to want to forget their guilt and shame?) What it means is that we are forgetting WHY offensive stereotypes about watermelon, laziness and chicken and thievery come from.
SHAME on you, ANY of you, for propagating this foolishness.
In a very sad, sick way, I can understand what the black dude in 'whiteface' felt. Perhaps deep down inside he kinda knew (or at least I hope he did) along with the other brotha in the picture, that perhaps that wasn't the greatest idea. Perhaps these guys were good friends and he just went along with their idea - after all, I do believe that this was not malicious, just incredibly misinformed. And if these guys attend U of T, most likely they are going to have more white friends than black. Maybe they just wanted to blend in. I'm not excusing the fact that they are douches for participating, but simply that it is not easy to dismiss their part in this as being 'race-traitors.'
Talking to white friends about issues surrounding race is not easy. I don't care how long you have been friends with someone but from my perspective and experience of having a 95% white family, regardless of how long you have known, love and respected someone, if they have not lived your experience, dealt with the intricacies of race and racism in our society, they will never fully understand. Sympathize? Yes but often that comes out as pity, which we do not really need and does no good for anyone. Could those brothers really talk to their friends about the questionable images they were putting out?
Maybe they didn't even think about it. After all, 'Blackface' is considered an old relic by the young. But every Halloween, the actions of people who put on brown makeup and take on negative caricatures of black people ( and Asian and Latino, and South Asians) seems to be here to say. They are too young or too stupid to know about how back in the day, blackface was white people saying that black were stupid buffoons. Actions that could avoid the verbalizing of hate but favoring a more insidious form of cruelty that said, we will never accept you. You will always be the other. But because this happens in this day and age when we really should be more socially evolved a bit more that we evidently are, it troubles me.
So this post-racial society? For some it means that with the election of President Obama, racism no longer exists. See, white Americans did 'us' a favor by voting a black man into office, so we all better shut the fuck up now. They can't be racist with a brother in the White House. You can no longer even say the 'R' word because as far as they are concerned, it no longer exists.
Some people have used Obama's election as a convenient way not only to dismiss instances of racism, but also to strip people from their humanity. See? We did you a favor so now you have to shut up and take it. We don't 'see' color....but we still like to dress up and make fun of you. The boys dressed up like characters in a movie that were viewed as stupid Jamaicans who needed to be saved by a white coach. They might have found it innocent, but I do not think it was. It was buffoonery, separated by a decade, perhaps, but still insulting. Maybe their are too stupid to know, to ignorant to care......I kinda hope so because the alternative is pretty pathetic coming from a younger generation in a heavily multi-ethnic city and a great university.
