Suppose for the sake of argument an African American student in Virginia went to a costume party in whiteface, dressed as Elvis Presley? what would be likely to happen to him? Unthinkable, right?
3
Just as people identified the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, I'm sure someone will identify the University of Arkansas student who this week went on Snapchat with the goal of offending people. Those of us who are offended should publicize this young man's name, just as we did the Charlottesville neo-Nazis. This is 2019. No one can say he didn't want to bring on the repercussions to his professional life, whatever they may be.
I predict after he's outed, he will apologize.
6
Our country is now completely off the rails. I read yesterday that Mary Poppins is now a racist show because she had chimney soot on her face. Really? So What is next? Athletes who put black under their eyes to shield from the sun, are they now racist? How about coal miners coming out of the mines going home or any one that gets their face dirty from work or play, for that matter, are they all racists now?
What has happened in America today is that we have completely lost our sense of humor. The issue of black face goes to the intent to which it was used. If there is no racial intent intended then so what. Would we be having this national conversation if a black man painted his face white to compete in an Elvis competition? I think not. Why?, because no one would take the time to care. So what, enjoy your self, have a good time.
Why aren't we talking about something important like the national debt, or infrastructure, or failing schools, the list of important issues is huge. Oh wait..I forgot ..it is about disparaging one another for political gain and votes.......Carry on!!
15
Methinks America is somewhat loosing it, and turning around itself with nowhere to go. Racism is seen everywhere and nowhere. It's like everybody talking at high-pitched voice at the same time. My question is this: If you want pay homage to a black person you admire like people would do impersonating Elvis Presley or Marylin Monroe and you are Caucasian , what do you do?
8
White people need to stop thinking of racism as a crime of intention rather than a crime of fact. Blackface is wrong, however pure and innocent (read: ignorant) your motives. If you don't understand that, you need to be educated not exonerated.
Apart from that basic distinction, it's important to maintain certain standards of behavior in civic life, otherwise we fall prey to the kind of endless gaslighting where comfortably privileged people act out in vile ways then pretend innocence when challenged.
75
My sister appeared in a public school-sponsored minstrel show in Bergen County, NJ in 1962-63. Our family attended and thought nothing of it. Meanwhile my father and a friend had formed a human-relations council in town to promote integration and our neighbors later told me that their parents thought we were going to sell to blacks because of my father's activities. Racism was very real everywhere then.
5
Wonder how it happens that so few of the examples cited are the acts of men, or things that happened at fraternities. Hmm . . .
2
I am reminded of a book I read last year, "Making of a racist"
by history professor, Charles B. Dew. Drew grew up in a racially charged atmosphere that had childhood storybooks coded for passing along racist behaviors to youngsters. Slowly, as he became exposed to black students at his boarding school he grew question his inherited values. I recognize the authenticity of the many voices calling for the governor's resignation. I also recognize that one white person's becoming race conscious can be a powerful story to other whites. Clearly this "whiteface" phenomenon is becoming a vehicle for both education of whites, and a chance for blacks to further define and delineate the damage done to black descendents of slaves over the decades. I also think people in their youth are immature and may not yet have fully developed the ability to separate out their own values from harmful race-related values of their family and community. I'm not crazy about the idea of condemning someone for something they did when they were young; sometimes the viciousness strikes me as projection. What is missing in this case is any story from the governor, of his path from the clueless and thoughtless young adult in the yearbook photo, to someone who forged a path through tolerance and self awareness to becoming more a more racially tolerant and aware advocate for all Virginians. Has he?
9
When the question of race comes up there should be a checkbox that says "human"
3
I see a fundamental difference between Northam and Herring. Northam's med school page had a picture of him(?) and someone else, one person in blackface and the other in Klan robes. He was in his mid-30s, this was in the 80s, and he saw nothing wrong? And then confessed and unconfessed. Also, as I recall, his nickname in a yearbook picture was "coon."He needs to resign for the good of Virginia as he has no credibility left.
Herring was a teenager dressing up as a rapper. He voluntarily brought it forward and apologized. I hope his situation is looked at with more compassion and understanding.
10
Yes--we should be sensitive to others' feelings and not openly mock and degrade them. But let's also address the deeper institutional forms of racism that continue to enslave our citizens.
7
@Josiah For example?
2
It has been said that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." In some of the cases described in this article, I would say give the benefit of the doubt to those who darkened their skin as a form of costume. For example, if women wanted to appear at a costume party as world-class tennis players who happened to be AfricanAmerican, how else but to darken their skin?
3
No need to darken skin.
4
Why why why!? I graduated college in the 1980s and my alma mater has been called out for earlier (1960s and 1970s) depictions of students in blackface. What did black people ever do to them? Other than want equality? Oh yeah, maybe that's the point. To keep people in their place. Ugh.
13
Remember the Kentucky high school where the student was involved in the "incident' with the Native American veteran, just a few weeks back? Remember the photos that leaked with other students in black face screaming at a black player during a basketball game? One day they'll come back to haunt them too. Just so that they have been put on notice.
5
In these times, it is digital blackface with “humorous” eye rolling and emotional outbursts of black celebrities in the form of gifs and memes. There is a ton of that going around on social media.
8
Thank you for mentioning this. It may be seemingly invisible, and it’s safely anonymous, but it goes on all the time (with the addition of “it was only a joke. Can’t you take a joke?”)
6
“... 1979 U.N.C. yearbook photograph of a student dressed in blackface jokingly re-enacting a Ku Klux Klan lynching.“. OK, that right there is why we have to stop this “zero tolerance” nonsense on the left. You cannot lump together in the same category a person mocking a lynching with someone dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween.
11
Blackface has had a long and not necessarily honorable existence including some of the entertainers of the last century such as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor as survivals from the old minstrel shows. but, make no mistake about it, it was racist then and it is racist now!
Particularly if you combine it with the costumes of the Ku Klux Klan.
Even our current racist-in-chief who himself seems oblivious when he praises whoever the current Grand Dragon is. (It escapes my mind!)
We should not allow this from our Republican colleagues and we should definitely not allow this from the Democrats.
Governor Northam and all his other racist pals need to step down!
6
Evolving sensitivities now recognize “black face “ as deeply offensive as a token of discrimination and racist attitudes. It was not always so..and there have been a number of equally offensive stereotypes for other groups that were equally tolerated ..e.g. the mendacious Jew, the drunken Irishman, the thuggish Italian.the excitable Hispanic. All shuch stereotypes are unacceptable and none of them are widely acceptable in today’s world. Times change as do people . It is simply dumb to blame a person for operating within locally acceptable standards of his youth while his current conduct is evidence of his rejecting them.
The current ,excessive revulsion expressed by the media spokesfolk..including the racial exploiters such as Al Sharpton is simply counterproductive and hypocritical ..and should be disregarded
14
Here’s a thought...why doesn’t everyone take a deep breath and let everyone else live and act like that want? Live and let love. Stop with he PC police and ultra sensitivity.
8
"live and let love"? How can that happen if people are purposely being offensive and others are presently being offensded?
6
@Yves
Mea culpa. Live and let live.
Offensded. You understand.
2
Dear white people: you know, sometimes it's ok to just listen to to other people's concerns without telling them they're wrong to feel the way they do.
32
Behar, Fallon, Kimmel? All have recently donned blackface. Do we only call out those we don't agree with? Or, sometimes, is a costumed just a costume? I dunno.....
8
I’m seventy years plus. I can attest , having driven a cross the country though multiple routes as early as 1958 , and seen segregated bathrooms if not full blown Jim Crow in the 1960s, that things were bad, and also that things HAVE changed. That’s said, it should surprise NOBODY that this sort of stuff happened routinely within southern frat culture populated by upper middle class southern white boys as late as the 1970s or even into early 1980s. But it really doesn’t happen now except at the fringes. Mr Herring has some ‘splaining to do, and maybe he can never get re-elected again, but summary dismissal for himself dems excessive and hardly something that will progress race relations in the country. Gov Northerm however, has to go. He was 4-5 years older than Herring, a grad student in MEDICAL school n(what black patient could ever trust him to deliver care ?) and he dissembled awkwardly at best , lied at worst. He cannot be trusted by ANY VA voter even today. This country was racist in a way its hard for millennial to understand as recently at 1970, but a proper sense of history would acknowledge the great strides we have made, with a sense on motivation that we can do even better. A calibrated hospital perspective would acknowledge our shameful PAST, a present that is a good faith work in progress,aNd a future that we can still aspire to. Properly put into action would call for Northerto resign and herring to answer questions publicly in a new conference.
5
I'm a 63-y.o. white man.
Today, I wouldn't put on blackface, because I've read enough over the past few decades to realize that it's highly offensive to many American blacks, & I have no desire to cause anyone that kind of soul-deep pain.
in the past, however, I wasn't nearly as aware of how injurious and dismaying it is. in my teens/20s, I would've thought nothing of putting on blackface as a joke or as part of a skit/play. I would've thought of it as the same as dressing up in drag or donning the guise of a cowboy or a rabbi, either as a spoof/satire or as portraying a dramatic role.
I wasn't oblivious to the fact blackface had been used to mock/ridicule. Historical facts re minstrel shows, vaudeville acts, Amos and Andy were part of my knowledge set.
And it wasn't that I wanted blacks to feel pain/outrage, nor did I want to demean/oppress blacks as a class. My sympathies were fully with blacks both emotionally and politically.
I think my problem was that of a failure of my imagination. I thought of blacks & whites as equals, and since I wouldn't object to a black guy wearing white makeup, I assumed that blacks would feel the same way. The equal right to be treated with respect, the equality as human beings, doesn't guarantee an equivalent perspective on events, & dumb me didn't get that.
Bottom line: i never did wear blackface; but I could have.
This fact informs my take on current events:
We should temper our hate of the transgression with love
for the transgressor.
28
@David Young
Thanks for writing so straightforwardly and honestly about your change in perspective. I bet a lot of people could say the same if they had your self-awareness.
5
I have a relative who did a blackface Halloween costume a few years back.
He's white, and a Trump supporter, and probably has some unconscious racist beliefs, but he's also a sweet, clueless guy and a good dad who lives in a rural area. He was at a party with adults, and is tagged in some pictures on social media with his wife and their friends, having fun. There was nothing hateful about it, just ignorant. He probably had fun role-playing as black person; I'm sure he wasn't putting on a minstrel show. He would have no idea what the term even means.
So, yeah. I understand the history, and why it's offensive, but I'm not going to call my relative's employer to get him fired, or try to shame him on social media. Instead, I'll discretely help him sweep it under the rug. Punitive action is unjust, in my view, because the damage to his family would be totally disproportionate to his mistake.
And that's how I feel about VA. If Northam says, "blackface is wrong, I know that now, and I'm sorry for causing offense," then that should be it. Turning the state over to Republicans isn't worth it; it would ratchet up the precedent that the Democrats will happily eat their own, and underscore the fact that the Democrats don't see flawed white men as family.
11
I’m African American and maybe it’s just me but I’m not offended by blackface anymore. It can even be funny when whites dress up as black celebrities. The same way it can be funny when a guy dresses up as a female celebrity. I know who I am. Other people’s caricatures mean nothing.
22
I just don't get it.
1
Mr. Venker may defend what he calls fun and totally innocent. But when your fun is done with absolutely no understanding of what it feels like on the other side of the color line, it's time to start thinking about why it's okay for you to behave like that. Personally, I (an older white woman) see it very differently. I see it as a way to demean African Americans and teach them that you can define and mock them in the most racist ways and get away with it because you are a white man.
5
I grew up in the 60’s & 70’s. The N-word was never an option, nor was black face or any racial slur. My mother would’ve beat me bloody with a stick - to a pulp!!! As would the nuns...It was indeed a white neighborhood - in The Bronx. That said, as kids When people of color begin to migrate in, we felt “alive” It was a thrill to learn about others. I’m glad the conversation about racism is so out and on the table. And I’m terrifically saddened to see what horrors have been categorically imposed upon people of color as well as people of a different nationality, religion and the elderly. I don’t see a simple solution. I believe this is a boots on the ground campaign as well as a political and national conversation. Every single human being needs to make the best effort.
7
@Bernadette
I agree: every one of us human beings has to try to be decent and civilized and compassionate, irrespective of the failings of public officials.
1
While I understand the feelings within the population regarding individuals using blackface; I do not understand the demands for the ouster of public officials who acknowledge their mistakes especially those that happened over 30 years ago. If we demand retribution for 30-year-old actions we are stating de-facto that no one individual can change, no one can move forward in their thinking and more importantly, no one can ever be forgiven. If that is the case then we will never have improved race relations in the foreseeable future.
65
@Michael I understand your point about not wanting retribution, however, 30+ years ago is not that long ago. And, it was the beginning of the Reagan era and the continuation of the Southern Strategy to peel off working class Democrats. A continuing racial divide was to be celebrated by some, sadly enough.
12
@Michael
This wasn't a run-of-the-mill youthful indiscretion, like getting drunk at parties. This was blackface, and I hope we all understand the weight of history behind it and why it's such a serious offense.
Of course people can evolve in their thinking. But public officials with previously undisclosed and newly discovered racist pasts have betrayed a public trust. It's not unreasonable to ask them to step down and work to redeem themselves as private citizens, before being entrusted once more with the care of the larger community.
The question of forgiveness is an interesting one. To be forgiven, one has to show contrition and make amends. How can we make amends for the entire centuries-long weight of racism and slavery, whose legacy still elevates white communities and crushes black communities? Reparations would be one way forward. Short of that, I'm not sure that any of us deserve "forgiveness."
If we've done wrong, it's up to us to make amends and do the right thing, simply because it's the right thing. "Forgiveness" is up to the ones we've offended, and it's their right to grant it or not. Maybe we should stop asking for -- or expecting or demanding -- the forgiveness of others, and simply keep trying our best to do better, whether we're forgiven or not.
16
As a woman, I have always found it offensive to see men dressing up as, impersonating, and caricaturing women, by wearing makeup, wigs, padded bras, high heels, etc., for entertainment, but not only is it still acceptable, it is now being celebrated.
Sometimes it is done in order to celebrate some specific famous woman, a diva, movie star, singer, etc., in which case that's fine, but often it is just an exaggerated caricature of a stereotypical "woman", to make people laugh.
Why is that OK?
Can someone explain the difference?
14
@AG
Interesting point. I'm not offended by such caricatures, and I don't know any women who are, but I'm sure you're not the only one. Your question is worth thinking about.
The old childhood saw," sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me", does not work any longer in the age of social media and instant gratification and slight. Too many are ill-equipped to deal with perceived verbal insults; some react by hurting themselves or others.
How many Americans have mocked or mimicked the Earl of Grantham's accent or the Queen's English; Jimmy Carter's drawl, or, put on an Irish, Italian, Indian or other groups' speech sound in jest with or without malice?
One cannot get the intent within others' minds and hearts at these means of societal coping or expressions.
The black face portrayal is merely one more example of expression that may or may not portend ill intent, but, frustration, ignorance, humor and, perhaps, anger.
We know that Al Jolson, in black face, was an entertainer not pretending to portray a coal miner. A hundred years later he is politically incorrect.
3
At the time that language usage was focused on becoming more gender neutral, I was resistant, being a soi disant lover of language. I came to realize that the way we speak both reflects and informs our way of thinking. Indeed, our language reflected a long history of sexist attitudes, so I stopped scoffing and got on the bus. (Though I still struggle with singular plurals.)
Like wise, we are coming to realize that the racism implicit in our social behaviors has gone unquestioned for too long. However, I don't buy that everyone who acted in ways that were culturally demeaning were doing so to express racism. There are lots of areas in which we have become more sensitive – comedy, music, sports, etc. – The future depends on our attention to the present, not in trying to blame the past.
In the Stalinist courts, people would be obliged to confess their "sins" many went along , despite innocence, for the sake of maintaining ideological purity. They were then convicted, executed, or sent off to a Gulag. I hope that kind of mind set does not become our default political position. It would be good to know that our leaders are being judged on the content of their character, not the color of their shoe polish.
I find the photo in this article of the student saying "I hope this offends someone," far more insensitive than someone wearing blackface at a party 35+ years ago, when, frankly, lots of people were doing it, many of whom had no idea they were being offensive.
4
Past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior - trace the criminal history of thousands of offenders. It's not infallible or applicable to all, but humans are creatures of habit (amongst other things)!
2
Social norms change. Most people when they become aware that certain behaviors or words are hurtful or even harmful change their ways. Yet on any given day we still see the Stars and Bars being displayed and in most cases it is nothing more than a visual dog whistle. We see swastika tattoos and flags used to send a strong signal of white supremacy. Use of the "N" by ALL, needs to be expunged from our society. These things are hard to legislate but need not be, mainstream society can exert enough pressure to make such behavior unacceptable in our society. In regards to the blackface incidents from decades ago, the constituents of those being represented must decide the political future of those involved. Virginians must decide if these politicians can still be effective leaders and representatives of their state. One popular religion even counsels those who are prone to start casting stones at others to think about their own behaviors first.
5
All your moral condemnation and social pressure does is to galvanize and harden certain person's convictions to do the very thing you don't want ever done any more.
Tell us more about what exactly offends you the most, this is probably useful information.
6
It would be nice if the article mentioned that the DEKs were banned by Tulane shortly after 1987 for their horrific behavior. They not only engaged in racism but also a great deal of misogyny, which the university didn't tolerate.
6
My thoughts as a white person
My guess is that 99.9 percent of white people don’t know the slightest thing about the racist history of blackface
The pictures emerge of white people in costumes and black face and everyone calls them racists but my guess is that in almost every single case there was zero racism behind putting on “blackface”. They’re just putting on a costume and trying to look like someone who is black
11
@Luciano Then they need to educate themselves. Ignorance is no defense. Why do they do it anyway? Do they want to be black? No. They wouldn't trade places with a black person for any amount of money yet they think it's funny to make fun of people of color. It may just be a "costume" to you.
8
Your “guess” description is racism. Failing to understand, consider or reflect amounts to ignorance and racist thoughts.
5
@J. Faye Harding
Ignorance is absolutely a legitimate defense, for the first offense. Repeatedly offending after one has been informed is another problem, but you can't condemn someone for not knowing they were doing wrong.
2
I just could never understand why people would put on black face. What are they trying to say or accomplish? It seems a strange mixture of racism and almost envy at the same time. I’d say it is merely silly but the visual statement is so “in your face.” I am proud to say that I have never even been in the company of someone in black face. So pathetic these people are.
4
@Boswell Exactly. I just don't get it. Why dress up as someone you don't like or think is inferior? It seems to be these people have some serious issues besides racism.
3
Thank you NYT's!
What America needs after Bright Bart and White Supremacists dug up Dr. Northam's yearbook.
Perhaps many newspapers should print college year books from Bret Kavanaugh's days, Mike Pence's days, Donald Trump's college days, Mike Pompeo's Days.....
1
Black people in America have lower life expectancy, higher maternal mortality, less right to vote, less money, less education, higher chance of being incarcerated--the list goes on and on--than whites. It would be nice to see the same media attention given to these injustices as is being given to blackface. The only other racial issue given the same attention is the shooting of an unarmed black person by a police officer, yet far more blacks die prematurely from illness and poverty than from police violence. While police shootings and blackface should certainly not be ignored, if these problems disappeared tomorrow all the other injustices would remain. Racial inequality in this country will never be solved unless we focus attention on the social forces that perpetuate it.
8
I'm a 36-year-old white female and I absolutely know blackface is racist. I knew that as a child, and I most certainly knew it by the time I hit college. There is NO excuse to do it, and there has never been an excuse for it that wasn't inherently racist. Thomas Venker can complain about the "PC" crowd all he likes, but guess what, sir, it is now 2019 and you had best realize you're in the 21st century, not the 19th. You're not so old and senile that you're going to get a pass for your prejudice.
17
I grew up in a time when you weren't considered a racist as long you didn't use the "n" word. For my thoughtless attitudes and hurtful comments towards people of color, I sincerely apologize.
7
I read in the comments here that, "America never atoned for its sins. This is why blackface is so bad." This is exactly the problem. The people responsible for slavery are long dead. Blaming "America" now is ridiculous. Who should take credit for the sins that were committed a century ago? Those kids dressing in blackface should not be expected to have any reverence for something that is so far removed from them and their generation. Even in the 80s. Are you going to give these kids a history lesson first before you try to shame them for something that was not their fault that happened so long ago? Last week seems like history to the current generation.
5
If they went to school and still don’t know that blackface is a racist statement, then they were not paying attention. Time to step back from white-‘spainin’ and rethink personal biases and hurtful actions. I agree that many of these were done without thought. That doesn’t excuse them. It makes them thoughtless. And thoughtlessness calls for apology and corrective action.
5
There is no limit on how clueless some people are. A corporate skit done in blackface was put forth in 1987 by my 50 year old manager who listened to the Beach Boy albums non stop. Eternally a 1961 frat boy jock with zero awareness. Not right, certainly bad in elected officials (and doctors), but thoroughly clueless, this in California. We live in a strange county.
2
One of the strangest cases of black face came to me by way of genealogy searches.
Joe Johnston recalled tracking his runaway banjo band all the way to Canada where they had taken shelter with Tecumseh's kin. Hearing Joe tell the talented slaves they might get paid if they only behaved and let him better manage their talent, the Indians surrounded Joe and pinched him from head to toe until he was blacker than blue.
Try getting through the gauntlet of slavers kidnapping anyone looking half black on the way back to Arkansas, Joe.
Taking pity on Joe, Tecumseh's kin, a warrior named Ironsides, took him inside his dwelling to recover from the insulting sting to his flesh and identity. They knew one another from those tippy canoe daze.
That's when Ironsides told Joe the Army got the wrong Indian. The man they thought was Tecumseh was really another warrior, and so his uncle was not desecrated after death as the Army intended. He was buried underneath them. I'm not telling...
1
I think you may need to draw a distinction between random blackface (most likely racist) and someone impersonating a famous person who is black (Michael Jackson). In the one you may be mocking a whole race (definition of racism) while in the other you may be mocking (or praising) an individual (not inherently racist). If you are white and impersonating a black person (for whatever reason - air band, etc.,) then you might darken your face. Likewise, if you are a black person impersonating someone white, like Bill Clinton, for whatever reason, wouldn't you lighten your complexion? Lets get a grip and look at the motivations of an individual before we judge them.
13
I want to know why the featured photo looks like two guys (one on top of the truck and second marching in coat and tie and sunglasses) are holding flag poles with no flags on them.
Hmmm
Why would this article exposing symbols of hatred edit out the confederate flag?
I attended Emory University near Atlanta in the early 1980's and while I do not recall anyone in a black face the condeterate flag was frequently seen in campus often with rebel yells and shouts of "the south will rise again!" There was also a confederate flag flying all the time in front of KA frat house on campus. It was evident that the south was still fighting the civil war and I was told many times it was not safe for me, an Asian-American man from north to freely travel off campus.
I left the south after graduating and returned once and diswaded my son from attending Emory University.
The southern cause was disguised then as "state's rights" by Ronald Reagan but since Charlottesville it should be clear that Trump is the president of the Neo-confederate America. Why is this article hiding the confederate flag?
Does the author have sentiment for sanitizing "southern heritage?"
2
Racism is so deeply engrained in America society that many white people, particularly those in areas of the country that have few people of color, don’t even recognize their behavior as racist and hurtful. Racism is a disease that is passed on from generation to generation. Only by discussing it openly can we hope to open the eyes of whites and stop this disease. The ruling class has long used racism as a tool to pit the “lower classes” against one another so as to try to stop the majority from joining together to oppose the policies of the ruling class that keep them in power. Recognizing that working people - regardless of race - have identical challenges and needs from their government will help them overcome racist views and join together to advance the interests of the majority.
10
It has been established that these acts are ignorant and offensive; in the present perhaps the more important question is whether they are also by definition acts which are unforgivably offensive, acts from which redemption is not possible. From all accounts which I have read and heard, Mr. Northam’s subsequent words and actions were not held to be racist. Can the subsequent life overcome the past action?
5
Let us not forget the late, great Gene Wilder in Silver Streak. Co-star Richard Pryor coached him in how to seem to be black; Wilder ended with, among other things, a boom-box on his shoulder, bopping to the beat.
Let the past be the past. Just don't repeat it today.
10
Young people like to pull pranks. Unfortunately they often pick up offensive "old" themes that should have been discarded long ago. They don't use their imaginations and innovate. It is not only a sign of bigotry but of mental laziness.
4
It's heartenting to see that so many white people who comment in the thread don't find blackface offensive--on the contrary, they assure us, blackface is actually a form of homage.
For my next Halloween party, I'll invite the men to wear clerical collars and carry small, naked, bleeding dolls (of both sexes). Nobody should be offended; it just an homage to the priesthood and their merry ways.
9
I'm getting old. I knew as a child that wearing black face was abhorrent and unacceptable.
Some of the comments on this forum are tasteless in attrmpting to justify it.
28
I'm not attempting to justify anything. Dredging up 35 year old pictures, looking to fry someone, is what needs justifying. Has either of the 2 Virginians, been accused of discrimination, bias, driving too fast, turning a library book in late, not rewinding a video, anything at all?
3
As much as I am a proponent of freedom of speech, a line needs to be drawn somewhere when it comes to racially, culturally or religiously sensitive issues.
Given the history of slavery in North America and the marginalization of African-Americans by white supremacists (and the prevalence of minstrel shows in the past), I would hope that these privileged people acquaint themselves with these issues and act accordingly.
This is not a black or white issue, anyone dressing in ‘blackface’ whether white or any other race needs to rethink their actions. Similarly, dressing up in Native American garb with the intent to demean or disrespect is not acceptable.
And I know I’m going to take a lot of flak for this... but just like no one would dare don a costume, depicting the horrors of the Holocaust, merely for a costume party, people should steer clear of mocking any other religious symbols or icons belonging to Catholicism/Christianity or Islam or any other religion for such events or parties.
Any criticism or discussion on the aforementioned subject matter is obviously protected by the First Amendment, but what’s at issue here is the intent to demean/ridicule, whether direct or otherwise.
Trust me, this still leaves a pretty wide field with which to draw inspiration from: Marvel, Star Trek, Colonial American history (minus any blackface references), political leaders (past or present), celebrities, comedians, etc.
Happy costume hunting!
2
It’s like when we dress up as hillbillies and hyuk and gosh darn and say demeaning things about southern Americans and their propensity to marry their cousins. It’s all in fun and it’s not like we really think they are stupid. We just like Andy Griffith! I’m sure they would never be offended because we really respect them.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Haha. Too funny.
4
Sensitivities are much greater now, even with ethnic groups other than African Americans. There are musicals, for example, that performing arts companies cannot or hesitate to produce without using actors of the right ethnicity in various parts. Examples: "The King and I" — "West Side Story" — "Annie Get Your Gun" Of course, Shakespeare's "Othello" — what does a theater company do with that? I'm not criticizing this trend, just pointing it out.
1
Glad you got Eric Lott to comment. His seminal study of blackface, "Love and Theft" puts blackface into political as well as historical perspective, linking it to Jacksonian populism. Every American should read it.
3
The "many" people claiming that blackface isn't "inherently racist" are confused; it is, and most of us have known it for years. I'm surprised that the 1975 episode of "All in the Family" with Archie in blackface hasn't featured in this discussion: if the practice was given to that character to perform, then it was clearly being criticized, and I remember that episode well. But if the politicians in the current scandal have not spent their lives and careers opposing civil rights, then it's even more shocking to me to see the results of an election being overturned by a self-appointed Star Chamber of activists.
24
@Blair: I don't think it's confused to be skeptical of the notion that any act or symbol "inherently" has a certain meaning independent of the intentions of those performing the act or using the symbol.
5
p.s. Like some other commenters, I fail to see what is racist ("inherently" or otherwise) in a tenor's wearing makeup to darken his skin in Otello. It is part of the plot that he is black and Desdemona is white (or, at least, that his skin is darker than hers, correct?). In circumstances in which both singers are white, does it not help to convey the dramatic situation if the tenor wears makeup? In fact, would it not look odd if they are both pasty white, though the opposite is referred to ("Ed io vedea fra le tue tempie oscure...")?
7
there are plenty of blacks tenor who can sing the role of otello. and have been for a very long time. why not simply hire tenors to song the role? as part of their training, black operatic tenors learn to sing the role. also perhaps you have forgotten that until the 1950s, blacks were discriminated against—jim crow segregation. only in the 1950s did tue metropolitan opera begin to hire black opera singers for “black” roles like otello or aida. it took another thirty years before a singer like kathleen battle could be hired to sing roles such as mozart’s susanna.
5
I remember Amos and Andy, a popular TV show in the 50's, with its blackfaced white actors. Happily the 60's brought black actors playing black roles.
And then there were the Caucasian actors playing Chinese roles far more recently.
1
but tue 1960s brought black actors playing characters that were often black stereotypes written by white screenwriters.
1
Blackface was common during various frat parties and at the annual massive Halloween bash at my southern university during the 1980s. However, it always seemed fairly obvious whether the intention of the blackfaced costume was to just portray a famous black person (Michael Jackson being an immensely popular character every year, ironically, given that he kept getting whiter over the years); for comedic reasons; or to purposely insult blacks; with the latter two usually (but not always) combined.
In almost every case the intention was apparent, with the majority of instances representing just a costume (Michael Jackson--come on, among the most popular costumes of the 1980s). Those costumes intentionally mocking black folks were also obvious, and yeah, there were a lot of them (20% maybe)--way too many, and some that went way beyond the pale in denigration and abject racist intent.
But really, shouldn't there be some kind of distinction between someone dressing up as a famous black person like Michael Jackson or Serena Williams and someone who sets out to obviously disparage an entire race? Do they really deserve to be hung by the same rope?
1
Several years ago, the Wayans Brothers applied white makeup and donned long blonde wigs to appear as stereotypical “Valley Girls” in the film “White Chicks.” Racist? Misogynistic? Great fun? I don’t know.
9
Any thoughts on Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr., Fred Armisen as President Obama, or Eddie Murphy as an old Jewish guy with a Yiddish accent? Are apologies in order, or are comedians given a pass?
7
Why should comedians be given a pass? Doesn’t this suggest society is condoning this type of mockery....
I wish this article had clarified on the legacy of Autherine Lucy as to being “expelled” from the University of Alabama. She had fought for her right to receive an education, and while Alabama was forced to enroll her, they still banned her from the dining hall and other facilities, and she was subjected to vile harassment. She was expelled for “besmirching the good name” of the school. Lucy faced years of discrimination because of her fight. Years later she was able to receive her education at the University of Alabama, and they have attempted to honor her legacy. Blessedly she is still with us.
35
It's no real surprise that blackface still exists and that the people that participate in it are oblivious or just don't care how it affects people of color. If they are raised in a household that displays the confederate flag and protests the removal of statues of southern generals then how would we expect their children to act any differently.
When segregation had to be broken by the federal government with troops to enforce the free access to public schools and colleges then blackface means nothing to this segment of society.
There is an undercurrent of racism in this country that many people are really starting to see possibly for the first time and they can thank Trump for that.
50
@VMG
Yeah, and it seems to reach out from and towards every direction at once.
1
@VMG I don't even think it is an "undercurrent." It's the current.
7
@VMG I am confused, as a black man you had me until you said' "They can thank Trump for that". I know for a fact from just reading this article that these activities happened years before Trump took office.
Throwing Trump's name into the conversation, as if racism escalated under him is just not true and an escapist fantasy used to excuse these past behaviors.
5
I went to high school in Illinois, Indiana and California in the early 60's. I don't remember ever seeing blackface at those schools or hearing about it. My first exposure to blackface was watching Al Jolson in the 1927 film the Jazz Singer. That merely proves that we live in a thousand different America's and in all but a few of them black face died long ago.
But the students in my high school were cruel. They called me highpockets because I liked classical music.
I tried to benefit from this unfortunate experience. My response was to become a crackpot, writing letters to the editor taking positions that were correct but hated by majority opinion.
So I spoke out against the Vietnam War and the second invasion of Iraq.
And now I simply point out to you the gentle readers that black face should be allowed a natural death. No need to bring it up again and again.
It is detracting from the real issues.
One of those is that Obama made a serious mistake during the end of the Great Recession.
He didn't prosecute Dick Fuld or Angelo Mozilo or Joe Casano or the other bankers who defrauded investors.
This gave a clear message to Trump, namely, "if you're rich, they let you do it." Meaning not grab them but pretend to be concerned about immigration and do nothing about it, pretend to understand why Obamacare is inadequate and do nothing about it.
While Democrats were busy the game of "holier than thou" they let Donald Trump accede to the presidency.
3
If your behavior is offensive to many people, you simply stop doing it. End of story.
To equate having black actors in Hamilton to the current situation of blackface further demonstrates one's ignorance.
97
@Tom
Yep. Time for everyone to just put on their bubbles.
1
@Tom - And with regards to Hamilton, in every case where a black actor plays a white historical figure it is done so as an homage. The white characters who ARE held up to outright ridicule (Like King George) are played by white actors. In other words, Hamilton is not “white face.” There is no racial ridicule going on.
2
@Jim
The problem is precisely that the current horror at blackface ignores the distinction between homage and ridicule.
6
Good grief. When I was in college during the 1908's era in question, I had NO IDEA that blackface was offensive. And I went to a fancy, private, very liberal arts college.
They sure didn't teach us a single thing about it in my high school AP history class. I knew it was a thing. I just thought it was some silly hollywood thing.
Likewise, I had NO IDEA about the Japanese internment camps in WWII. NONE. In contrast, However, they taught us about the Holocaust THE FIFTH GRADE. Anne Frank's diary was the least terrifying thing we had to read. I had nightmares. Lots of them.
My point is that people do not know the history they have never heard of. I would never have considered dressing up like Adolf Hitler for Halloween. But if someone had suggested we go in blackface, my only concern would have been that shoe polish cannot be good for your skin. No matter what color you skin is.
It was 30 + years ago. MoveOn.org. Who among us would like to be judged by stupid things we did when we were in our 20's? Except for Mike Pence. He might not mind. Are you Mike Pence...or are you an actual human being with the usual social foibles that happened before you even knew what you were doing?
10
I pictured an ancient old woman when reading your 2nd sentence, then realized it couldn’t be but the rest of the tone may as well have been someone in school in the early 20th century....
2
@Nadia
I was in college in the late 1960’s. I read about the Japanese internments in a history class in HIGH SCHOOL. It never would have occurred to me to do black face and, though I’m sure it happened, I never saw an incident of it.
4
I remember 1984. Blackface and KKK hoods were offensive then as they are now.
4
I went to high school in the 60's in Indiana and Illinois. But I don't remember a single incidence of black face.
That doesn't mean it didn't occur. The students in my high school were cruel. They called me Fabian and highpockets because I liked classical music.
I suppose I could sue for harassment, but the other students would claim they don't remember who I was. And since I don't remember their names, they might be right.
But I do have a confession. I did enjoy that opera by Mozart, the Magic Flute. And it portrays a dark-skinned character as a sexual predator. It is Monostatos the Moor in case you want to look it up.
And people in the academy have argued that the Magic Flute is racist and sexist. Yes I did enjoy it. In my defense, I should say that the plot of the opera is ridiculous and it was the music I enjoyed. In fact the music was spectacular.
But I suppose we should really regard Mozart as a racist and fire him ex post facto from the court of Joseph II of Austria. And perhaps ban his music.
No, we should burn all copies of his music. Because we cannot allow racism to flourish.
And while we're at it we should ban Schoenberg and Berg as entartete Kunst. Oh wait! After several hearings of Lulu I actually came to enjoy it. Maybe the Germans were wrong.
Anyway, those of you who are artists, be sure to follow the example of Shostakovich who wrote a mea culpa in Pravda.
Artists should be required to present blacks in only positive roles.
2
@Jake Wagner Artists create worlds with only white characters and then occasionally insert a black character in a negative role. So someone looking at t.v. shows from the 1950's-1980's (or later) might believe that black people are all criminals or lazy or stupid. At the same time that Thurgood Marshal was serving as our first black supreme court justice, how many black judges (or lawyers for that matter) would you have seen on TV or in movies during that time? Artists can't whitewash the world and then complain about artistic freedom when the handful of black characters they permit to exist seem to almost invariably fall into negative stereotypes to represent the filth besmirching that whitewashed world. Your criticism assumes a somewhat realistic fictional world with random races in random roles. Maybe the lawyer or professor character might be black. Maybe the fireman might be black. Maybe the drop out or drug addict might be white. If that were the case, it would not matter if a particular negative role was played by a black person because there would be positive roles played by blacks in the same world. But if the only roles played by black people are negative in a fictional whitewashed world your argument clearly fails. And in an age when we can point to other fictionalized worlds that are more realistic and random, clinging to one (the magic flute) where a central plot point is that blacks are the scum of the earth seems a bit misguided.
2
@Irrelevant "So someone looking at t.v. shows from the 1950's-1980's (or later) might believe that black people are all criminals or lazy or stupid. " I disagree. As one who watched lots of TV in the 50s and 60s, I noticed how the few black actors in shows from that era typically portrayed wise, noble characters, or as victims of white racists, or as simply bystanders (in a jury, part of a crowd, in a theater,etc.). It wasn't until the 1970s that blacks also portrayed "bad guys" (often apprehended by black police officers). I remember thinking, we've finally reached some sort of TV-land equality where blacks portray a full range of characters: good, bad, neutral--just like white actors portrayed.
2
@TRF Oh, please. Just stop or please name those wise, noble characters on TV in the 50s and 60s.
Racism and the disparagement of blacks was used to justify institutionalized slavery and is a relic of our past history. There was no concept of race in the Americas before it was settled by white Europeans and native Americans were known to accept escaped Blacks as brothers.
3
@Steve
Except for the tribes who kept slaves.
3
@Steve
Native Americans had significant inter-tribal prejudices. Some tribes kept captives as slaves before the arrival of Europeans and some had black slaves on the European model after. Some Native Americans became slaves, some harbored escaped slaves.
Native Americans are human and subject to the same altruistic actions and failings as all people.
4
@Steve I don't think you know for sure that "there was no concept of race in the Americans before" Europeans arrived there. Were different native American tribes/groups were always kind to each other?
2
I still have the yearbook photo of myself as a fourth-grader in our class play - in blackface. Growing up in the middle of the Pacific, I had no idea what was wrong with that, then.
But I sure do now.
Fifty-five years on, I wonder what my teacher was thinking, and if she is still alive, what she's thinking now.
I just feel shame.
One day we'll be done with bigotry, even the ignorant and unintentional kind - but how long, oh Lord, how long?
8
@Kealoha
I don’t think it is necessarily shameful to be ignorant, but certainly is to remain so. I think you should forgive yourself.
1
Were you playing a black character in that play? I certainly understand what you are saying but don’t judge your teacher too harshly. Maybe she was just trying to make the play more “real” as it was perceived then. When I was in Middle School in the late 60s I was in The Mikado. I know I was dressed in a kimono, and although I don’t recall it, we probably put makeup on to make our eyes look more Asian. We just wanted to look like the characters we were playing. The Mikado has racist and stereotypical elements in it and perhaps should not be performed anymore. At least not by school children. But in dressing up for the play we were not trying to disparage anyone.
It's part of the country's history and culture. We don't have to glorify it, but we must accept it and stop seeking scapegoats from decades ago. The society has grown past blackface, but we don't need witch hunts searching for people, dead or alive, who once used it. That is an exercise in self-conceit and smugness.
The first sound movie was "The Jazz Singer" with Al Jolson in black face. Do we toss the copy in the Library of Congress into the dumpster? Do we obliterate it from our history? Or do we note its historical importance with the caveat that our people (all of us) were less sensitive then.
13
I attended a small college in KY (Centre College) which had a blackface incident my sophomore year (1988). A fraternity had a tradition of a mock lynching of a brother, something I think to do with pledge week (I was not a member and was not at the party in question). The incident received coverage in the Lexington, KY newspaper, and fraternity in question was suspended from hosting parties for a few months. They were not however kicked off campus. I admit at time that most students, myself included, laughed it off as drunken joke... what was the big deal? But it is a big deal and is never funny, not 30 years ago and not today.
57
@Joe
The question isn't whether it's a big deal or inappropriate. Clearly it is. The question is whether it unquestionably "outs" someone as a closet racist 30 years later. The question is whether it disqualifies you from ever seeking a role of public trust in society. I think many are saying that it does not.
5
No matter how morally outraged one may be, none of this stuff is illegal and I think this story is a thinly veiled attempt to exert extra-legal control over what people are and are not allowed to say. I suspect this is actually a free speech issue?
So now I would like to see blackface photos from the 1800s please. They must exist, let's get them out for everyone to see.
3
Go ahead. Don your white hood. But people will judge you as racist.
2
I came across a photo of a minstrel show, with everyone in blackface, in the Redford (Detroit, Mich.) High School yearbook for 1952, where my father taught. Redford was part of a totally segregated school system in Detroit, where all blacks were funneled into one high school, Cooley.
Both high schools are now closed and replaced by other structures.
10
@Andrew Porter
Ah, Redford Township, just north of Six Mile Road, home of Eminem and Kid Rock. Racial expropriation and blackface, the double-edged sword. The term 'irony' doesn't even begin to cover it. Oh, waiter, can I get some Ice in my Vanilla?
4
When one understands the history of blackface, one can truly understand the racism and hate it harbors.
That being said, we need to distinguish between college kids dressing as rappers - who I guarantee have no clue of its history - versus blackface to induce hate and racist shame. I seriously doubt college kids, including the Virginian government officials at that time, were hateful racists looking to oppress. At worst, they’re culturally unaware and lacking perspective. As are most kids that age.
It’s a sensitive subject, but we need to take a step back and look at intent as well as actions. Intent is important, let’s not overlook that.
100
@Hunter R.
Except when you take a pic next to someone dressed as a klansman I think it dilutes the idea that the blackface character is an innocent college/medical school student not meaning to be racist.
43
I direct your attention to the person in the KKK robe next to the person in blackface in that now famous photograph. The racist connection is clear to those involved.
27
@Bobby
Part of having fun at parties for many young men, is being as outrageous as possible to make others laugh.
Dressing as various monsters (Dracula, Jeffrey Dahmer, Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper, Trump...), as women, as mad scientists, etc., anything that will provoke a mixture of horror and laughter.
The KKK and Nazis are in the same tradition. Many young men, including royalty, don't think twice dressing as any of these.
It may tell you they are out of touch with now dominant political sensibilities, but not much else.
6
One of my former students showed up at my house wearing a costume where he appeared to be riding on Trump’s back. It was hilarious. The fact that my student was very dark skinned did not make him a racist for riding on the back of a person of another race. Darkening your face to appear more like Michael Jackson, when you are trying to dance like him, does not make you a racist. Imitation is a form of flattery. Trying to look like Dianna Ross does not make you a racist.
Are the Black actors who play the lead roles in Hamilton racists? They wear makeup. Are they disparaging Burr? Or are they just actors on a stage?
And if people want forgiveness and redemption, it has to be available to everyone, not just the darlings of the Left. People do stupid stuff. If you’ve lived a better life for decades, it’s insane to hold an indiscretion from your youth against you.
75
@Michael Haddon there are no black actors in Hamilton wearing lighting makeup.While you are free to believe that darkening your skin to portray or resemble a person of color is racist, I can assure you it is. I'd encourage you to research Al Jolson.
And to receive forgiveness and redemption you have to actually show contrition and ask for it.
37
@Michael Haddon
"Darkening your face to appear more like Michael Jackson... does not make you a racist."
You don't need to wear blackface to imitate Michael Jackson. All you need is the glove and the jacket and some dance moves -- no skin-darkening required. People will get it.
"Are the Black actors who play the lead roles in Hamilton racists?"
The actors of color in Hamilton aren't putting on "whiteface" to look like the actual Founders. And even if they did, it doesn't have the same context or history at all. "Whiteface" isn't linked to centuries of blacks enslaving whites or considering them an inferior race.
Some acts are so freighted with history, so racially loaded, that people should really know better than to engage in them. For the same reason, I suppose it's POSSIBLE that a white person today might say the N-word with affection rather than malice, but it would still be totally unacceptable, and rightly so.
"And if people want forgiveness and redemption"
To be forgiven, first you have to acknowledge your misdeed, realize the full implication of it, and accept the consequences. Criminals can be welcomed back into society -- but first they have to serve their time. Politicians with newly-uncovered racist pasts can redeem themselves -- but first they must resign.
"an indiscretion from your youth"
These people were all adults and should have known better.
35
@Jason
I agree with some of what you say, but where do we draw the line? A recent NYT article included instances of individuals wearing a sombrero and a kimono as examples similar to blackface. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with those examples as being racist, necessarily.
Given the some of these gray areas ( in my mind), I think we should seek to educate, rather than to condemn those of individuals involved.
As Rodney King once said “Can we all get along?”
9
I have to wonder about the relationship to another phenomenon, where guys dress up like women. I'm thinking of Harvard's Hasty Pudding club, but there are clearly other examples. One of the episodes in the story combined the two. There is something structurally similar to blackface in this kind of drag show, about privileged guys taking on the role of the less privileged, in a very brief controlled context.
29
@John Bergstrom: Have you ever seen the video of Rudy Giuliani and Trump at a perfume bar? Giuliani is dressed as a vampish woman with a very large chest. At one point Rudy pulls Trump's head down into his chest so he could smell the perfume. Ugh.
It is disgusting and the thought that Trump and Rudy both feature prominently in our political discourse is doubly disgusting.
10
@John Bergstrom. There is an entire industry of men dressing up as women, generally with grossly exaggerated features and behaviors, all “stereotypical.” In this case, these actors are lauded. I do not pretend to have a satisfactory understanding of this phenomenon along with blackface but suspect that the flow of power is important.
3
I remember my racist grandfather playing in a 'minstrel' show in the 1950's and he wore blackface.
I also remember falling in love with the guy who played Al Jolson in the film of his life and thinking nothing of the blackface.
So sad that it is still so prevalent. America has never atoned for it's sins, both against Native Americans and African-Americans (and let's not forget Japanese-Americans) and until we do, this will go on and on.
White people need to wake up. I was lucky. I learned from my grandfather and father about racism ('coon' was the way African-Americans were referred to in my house) and decided early on to reject it as much as I humanly could.
75
@sophia
Larry Parks.
2
@sophia
Right on sister !
John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, William Garrison, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, James Reeb, Stanley Levinson, Jack Greenberg, Julius Rosenwald, Frank Johnson, Viola Liuzzo, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson were woke while white and alive.
3
The Racist tradition has been kept alive by the Hollywood elite for a long time - the same hypocrites who now blame 20-year old college students.
Actor Ted Danson once showed up at a Friars Club roast for his then-girlfriend, Whoopi Goldberg, wearing blackface. Goldberg co-hosts in "The View" on ABC, Joy Behar, has also appeared in blackface. Hollywood's 1986 "Soul Man" has lead character in blackface for much of the film. Tom Hanks appears in a old video pretending to auction off someone who appears in blackface. The story could go on... and on.
15
@Virginia Grandma That settles it then: I'm not voting for Ted Danson!
3
When I was at the University of Delaware in the 1970s, the Kappa Alpha fraternity - supposedly the one farthest north - had its brothers rent Confederate uniforms for their spring formal, while their dates wore mid 19th century ball gowns. At the time, I thought it was nostalgic and charming. Now, I am kind of horrified at the deification of the Confederacy and especially of Robert E. Lee. It wasn't until relatively recently that I was aware that most of those statues and naming of highways and schools for Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart occurred well after the end of the Civil War. It makes we wonder if we shouldn't have just let the South be its own country, after all.
51
@Kate Campbell No, we shouldn't have let the south be its own country... they wanted to keep slavery.
13
I don't get it.
Is racism an itch or something? Does it itch real bad all the time and you gotta get it out of your system?
Why else do these young people - mostly raised in all-white enclaves with no contact with black people at all - still feel the need to put on blackface?
24
I know there are a lot of people who understand clearly what they're doing when they do blackface, and do it for the reaction. But for some reason, I always think back to this girl that I knew who was just a massive fan of Frederick Douglass. Obsessed. She read all about him, was very excited to visit his historical home, everything. She was a young teen/preteen when she decided to dress up like him for a school project, including blackface. She had no idea what the history of it was, or even what Douglass's views were on it himself. I wonder what would happen to her life if pictures of it surfaced.
21
The photo of Mel Kuhn, the Arkansas mayor dressed as a woman in a beauty pageant, to me seems more ridiculous than racially offensive. In fact I would have a hard time even recognizing that whatever makeup he is wearing is even blackface. I'm not sure why this is being compared to the disgraceful photos of students in very dark face makeup, wearing hoods and pretending to hang someone.
8
Can anyone please explain, the Zulu Carnival Club in New Orleans, the pinnacle of longstanding respected African American Society in New Orleans, still presents their annual Mardi Gras parade costumed in "black face" as part of their own traditional attire. What are the psychological and social dynamics here? While not attempting to defend, and clearly inappropriate, the Tulane fraternity parade photo in the article, with students dressed in "blackface", was an annual Mardi Gras parade, that took place in this context. Thoughts, anyone?
3
Sure. For openers, it’s actually called, “The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club.”
Then there’s the little detail that while they seem to have been inspired by an openly racist blackface act they saw at vaudeville, they’ve included black folks since at least 1949, when they made Louis Armstrong their year’s King, and they’ve argued the whole issue out openly for a long, long rime.
http://blog.nola.com/mariamontoya/2009/02/the_truth_about_zulu_10_things.html
That help?
3
@Thomas I'm the University Archivist at Tulane University so I can speak to the history of the fraternity parade. The 1987 DKE parade was not sanctioned by Tulane. In fact, the fraternity had been kicked off of campus in 1984. It managed to parade through campus in 1987 by applying for a New Orleans parade permit (probably without mentioning its excommunicated status), which was approved. The parade was held in conjunction with the fraternity's 30th annual Debutramp Ball, and it included the students you see in the photo wearing blackface, and others carrying lighted flambeaux (as are carried in Mardi Gras parades). The university had no prior knowledge of the parade, and would not have permitted it on campus. The president at the time, Eamon Kelly, issued a letter to the community afterwards decrying the event and promising to prosecute participating students under the Code of Student Conduct, sent a letter urging the DKE national organization to revoke the chapter's charter (as Tulane had done in 1984), and also asked the Mayor and city council to close down the chapter house. So no, this was not acceptable in 1987, in any form or fashion on a college campus. I'll leave the Zulu folks to defend their own tradition.
4
@Robert For the record Zulu was founded by African Americans .....so not correct to say "black folks" included since at least 1947.....again it was founded by African Americans. Zulu now includes some caucasians in the parade (not as members as far as I know, but I could be wrong about that). All in the parade are in black face. It's all great fun (one year I was privileged to ride...in black face....I am caucasian). Just saying. Happy Mardi Gras
Bamboozeled is a film from 2000, directed by Spike Lee. If anyone cares to know what people of color think about blackface, it’s a must see.
12
Greek life on campuses should go away. They promote segregation, alcohol abuse, misogyny, sexual exploitation. They bring money to the Universities, so they won't go away. But they are a bit shameful, and discourage any humanitarian progress.
66
Don’t care for Greek life? Then don’t participate. Simple as that. Why do progressives always insist on pressing their life choices on others?
1
@Tricia
They aren't " Greeks".
1
To me there is a distinction between putting on blackface as Al Jolson did and simply darkening your face as many others have done more recently. Al Jolson-type blackface is designed to exaggerate the features of blacks, to insult their appearance and to portray blacks as clowns or fools. That is racist. In contrast, darkening your skin to look for example like Michael Jackson, as Governor Northam admits he did, is not intended to ridicule or insult. That is not racist.
32
@Jay Orchard
Michael Jackson has been many colors but never did he have a black shoe polish complexion. In fact, had the governor truly wanted to mimic MJs look, he wouldnt have to add or take away any color at all. Michael suffered from vitiligo.
3
@Jay Orchard The yearbook photo of Gov. Northam shows a person in black face next to a person in KKK garb. It's horrifying to anyone with a basic knowledge of US history.
What's most concerning to me is that Northam was heading into a pediatric residency and presumably went on to a career in which he took care of lots of kids of all races and ethnicities. There is a lot of research that the medical establishment treats black and white patients differently. In some cases this may be due to "unconscious bias," though the racism demonstrated in that yearbook photo was blatant, not unconscious.
3
@Jay Orchard
John Boehner and Donald Trump know how to try to look Barack Obama brown without using any offensive shoe polish or charcoal.
Al Jolson was a Jew. Jews were not enslaved in America. Unlike blacks there is no way to physically identify a Jew.
America was founded on the principle that enslaved Africans " were a species of property with no rights which any white man was bound to respect." Dred Scott v. Sandford
America was nurtured on the idea that " separate and equal" institutions and practices based upon color aka race was legal and moral. Plessy v. Ferguson
America lives the notion that white supremacist prejudiced bigotry is a thing of the past. Shelby County v. Holder
11
I went to school in Massachusetts and Upstate NY in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I do not recall seeing any blackface. The home page summary of the article states that "it surfaces on a regular basis across the U.S." Despite a couple examples in the article of northern states, I think it is predominately a southern thing.
18
@Don Wiss: It was in Ohio in the '50's.
3
@Don Wiss It was in Massachusetts in the 50's. Saw it myself. Children put in blackface.
2
Sophia & Lisa, I think you missed Don Wiss's point. He was talking about the time period "late 1960s and early 1970s", not the 1950s.
BTW, I didn't see any blackface on the 2 college campuses I attended druing the late 60s/early 70s, either.
2
"All these years later, Mr. Venker still defends the 2004 episode much like he does the “Soul Review” parties. These were homages to black performers, he says, and “totally innocent.”"
Thats ridiculous and twisted insecure, racist actions while trying to make it appear to as something normal. If you want to pay homage to blacks then hire them and pay them to perform and clap to pay homage. The racism is undeniable in the need to BE black, something you can attempt behind closed doors because you admire it and envy it acting it out in ignorance (not innocence) is a dead giveaway that talented black success bothers you so much you need to ridicule it rather than pay real homage which comes with appreciation.
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And here I thought and hoped that this sick behavior as an exhibit of racial hatred was gone. Yes, I am naive.
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I believe the author forgot to include the following celebrities who have appeared in black face: Ted Danson (who was with then girlfried Whoopie Goldberg), Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Sarah Silverman, and Joy Behar. Is it only racist if you were a white fraternity member at a Southern University in the 1980's? Seems like selective outrage...
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Did they pose for a photo with a pal in KKK hoods?
2
Is the movie white chicks by the Wayans brothers equally as offensive? Two African-Americans donning white face. Where is the outrage?
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They weren’t making fun of white women. They were undercover. Did you say something at that time. Where was your outrage?
5
The dominant culture parodying the oppressed culture is not the same as the minority playing at being in the privileged group.
Please think: oppressing a group for centuries and then parodying them for your own amusement is pretty awful.
15
Moral outrage is just as incoherent as any other outrage that someone is liable to be possessed by. Ultimately this is nothing but a control issue: "we are desirous to define and to control what is allowable conduct in civilized society".
Naturally there are those of us who seek to do the opposite of such arbitrary rules. The irony is that one can never make such diktats into law, because they are contrary to basic human rights!
1
Disgustingly racist and hurtful. At least these people can no longer run for office....
I just find it shocking since these people are younger than I am and I knew that blackface and that kind of associated behavior was offensive. Where were their parents and mentors? I guess I was sheltered growing up.
2
Many years ago at a Dragon Con event in Atlanta, I encountered a young Asian man who was dressed as Lt. (Jr. Grade) Geordie LaForge from Star Trek: the Next Generation. He had the right uniform, a tight cropped black wig, a very authentic looking VISOR accessory over his eyes, and yes - his face had been darkened to the complexion of Lavar Burton, the actor who played the role.
I was genuinely concerned for the young man, and wary that the Star Trek TNG/TOS cross-over fan community might suffer if people thought we were racist and tone deaf. You see, in the world of super fandom, the TNG and original series (TOS) fans don’t often mix. So I confronted him.
I was dressed as Spock from the original series, and as I tried to reason with him he refused to break character. While this may seem like it was a humorous scenario and even a wonderful alt-fan fiction cross over event - with a TOS Spock debating a TNG Geordie, both using logic and well reasoned facts, the primary facts were oft putting and borderline horrific, for one of us, ultimately, was in black face.
While I realize that this is a very different kind of scenario than the black face cases being uncovered in “fraternity culture,” it makes me aware that we in the Star Trek community must also grapple with how we appropriate the likenesses of others as we explore strange new worlds. For fundamentally, change is the essential process of all existence.
So we must change our thinking, too.
Live long and prosper.
6
The Metropolitan Opera of New York used blackface (later rebranded as "dark makeup") in its performances of Verdi's Otello until 2015 - a mere 4 years ago.
I haven't heard a hue and cry to banish the esteemed opera company.
Nor should their be.
Virginia, like the rest of the country, needs to recognize and confront our history of racism and slavery. But we also need to move on, and to a large extent we have. The last president of the the United States, elected for two terms, was African American.
The outrage in Virginia and the national Democratic party over the use of blackface 30 to 50 years ago is overwrought, overdone, and frankly counterproductive.
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@Alex
But the vestiges of the system that embraced blackfaces...still lives...and it still affects us. I have a friend who's grandfather was lynched not too far from where we live. I never understood the inner sadness in her eyes and in the eyes of her children. Their grandmother is still alive. His picture still on the vestibule. There is still a hole in their hearts... They live blackface..
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@Alex
"But we also need to move on, and to a large extent we have. The last president of the the United States, elected for two terms, was African American."
Hooray, we've solved racism! Pay no attention to the racist right-wing freakout over that African American president (including the birther movement spearheaded by the current president); the resurgence of blackface; neo-Nazi rallies and the rise of hate groups like the Proud Boys; the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the increased voter suppression in black communities; unarmed black men being shot by police; white women calling the cops on black people minding their own business; and the continued structural inequality in black vs white incomes, education, housing, and healthcare access. These are all minor distractions from the fact that we have, apparently, "moved on to a large extent"! Yay for us electing Obama! We can all go home now.
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@Alex I am so weary of the cries to "just get over" what happened in the past. First it was slavery was over a 100 years ago. Then it was it's only been 50 years since the civil rights act we need to remember how "different" things were during that time. Then conveniently the same charge and time frame was used as a reason to end affirmative action measures. Now even the 80s are "way back when"? Racism is real and blackface is hurtful. Try asking black people what they think is counterproductive, or overdone. Finally I love Othello and hope someone considers finding a black man to play the role instead of a white man in blackface.
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For a fantastic historical analysis of this illness in our culture and society, see David Roediger, The Wages of Whitness, the Making of the American Working Class. It seems to have been even more complicated than race.
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