It’s gratifying to receive open and honest personal stories from readers about contentious issues we discuss here in the coffeehouse. Sometimes folks ask me for advice (I’m flattered, but I certainly don’t have all the answers!), other times they just want my perspective on how I might have handled a scenario.
As we’ve been discussing here for quite some time, race is probably the most difficult tooic for people to open up about, and I’ve received quite a few emails from people on the topic who asked for private responses.
The other day I received one from a reader named Kim in Vancouver, BC. While we think that in many ways Canada is more civilized and progressive when it comes to civil rights and tolerance, it’s pretty clear that racism is alive and well and definitely not discussed in the open in some circles. Kim was more than happy to share with folks here, so I’m posting it, along with the response I sent to her.
Hi Pam,Kim continues below the fold.I came across your blog and your postings about blackface after coming home tonight upset about a Purim party I attended. This party, open to the Jewish public and held at Vancouver’s Jewish Community Centre, was to celebrate the Jewish carnival-like holiday of Purim, where people dress up in costumes and dance all evening. There are events for children as well.
I was shocked to see five adults there wearing full blackface and Afro or Rasta wigs. I went up to the lady at the ticket desk, confirmed that she was one of the organizers of the event, then asked her opinion on how best to express my dismay. Should I speak to the people directly, talk to the Rabbi, or …? She was confused by my question. She didn’t understand what blackface was or why it’s offensive. When I tried to explain (I’m not black, so my knowledge was limited to memories of certain blackface Looney Tunes cartoons being banned and Al Jolson and basically that blackface has been considered offensive since at least the 1950s), she protested that that’s just my opinion. (Um, no, even the Looney Tunes people realized it’s wrong.) She also said I shouldn’t bother telling the people their costume is offensive because they won’t listen to me. I asked her how she knew what they would say, then gave up. She clearly felt I had no reason to be upset.
My response…I debated going home and calling my Rabbi tomorrow, but then I decided that was a cop-out. The only mature thing to do was to open up a dialogue with one of these people. I went up to the most approachable-looking fellow and asked if I could speak to him about his costume. He said yes. I asked if he knew the cultural history behind blackface. He immediately took offense, said he didn’t want to talk to me about this. I gently mentioned that it’s considered racially insensitive to wear blackface. He said he has no problem with racism, this is my problem, then he backed away from me and waved me off. He had a thick Israeli accent so there may have been a language barrier.
I went over to my Rabbi, told him I was leaving and that it was because I couldn’t party with people wearing blackface. It offended me too much. As Jews, we should be more racially sensitive, not less. I was ashamed to be at an event where Jews were participating — however unintentionally — in a racial slur.
Out of 250+ whites at this event (many of them Israelis), there were only maybe 3-4 black people there. I was tempted to try to talk to one about this, but then I realized that might be overkill.
But I wanted to share this story with you. I was heartened to find your blog and realize I wasn’t not being oversensitive (as my friend accused me of being when she tried to keep me from speaking up). If blackface is still considered offensive to blacks, white people of conscience should still speak out against it, yes?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on how I might handle this,
Kim L.
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hi Kim,She replied…Thank you SO MUCH for writing and sharing your story. It’s a wonderful example of how we should engage on the issue of race. It takes courage to go directly to the person and politely confront them about their bigotry (whether purposefully ignorant or not).
…You listened to your gut instincts, and rather than walking away from it, you knew what you saw seemed offensive. You took the braver route and made the person engaging in the offensive behavior “take ownership” of their racism. I am certain that there were others there who were appalled and just didn’t want to raise the issue.
Your gut feeling was correct based on your description of the reaction of the person “in costume.”
I asked if he knew the cultural history behind blackface. He immediately took offense, said he didn’t want to talk to me about this. I gently mentioned that it’s considered racially insensitive to wear blackface. He said he has no problem with racism, this is my problem, then he backed away from me and waved me off.
He knew exactly what was inflammatory since he took offense — you called him out politely, in no uncertain terms, that what he was doing was racist, and we all know that this is something people don’t want to be labeled. You forced him to be held accountable and the first thing he wanted to do was 1) deny what you could plainly see is going on, 2) make it your problem, and 3) run away from the conversation rather than defend what was called out, because he couldn’t come up with a defensible position on why he was standing there in blackface, yukking it up. That you engaged politely rather than angrily makes all the difference in the world. He had to walk away - he couldn’t call you a raving lunatic. He was exposed to his own bias and you put him on notice.
Thank you so much, again for your personal bravery in choosing to speak up in a constructive way. Doing so doesn’t always bring the desired result (the other person admitting they have an undealt-with problem with race), but it breaks the silence that allows people to know that others are watching and willing to challenge them to justify their beliefs on the matter. I’m pretty sure that man won’t forget your encounter with him, even if he tries to brush it off publicly. If only more people had the guts you did to simply ask him why he thought the costume was entertaining rather than offensive.
–P.
Hi Pam,This is the kind of thoughtful exchange and approach that we can use to think about how we handle certain situations — be it about race, homophobia, trans issues, misogyny, etc. It may be a bit uncomfortable to share a reaction that you feel in hindsight was avoiding the problem (we’ve all done that). By seeing how we can challenge ourselves to actively think about our reactions to situations — and how they play out — we can cultivate self-awareness. We can retrain ourselves not to give in to the political correctness that enables silence and find ways to navigate these difficult paths by creating a safe, civil space here. Thanks, Kim.What a lovely, generous reply. I really appreciate your support and insights into this situation. After thinking about it (the incident got me so wound up I could barely sleep), I do agree that the fellow must’ve known his costume wasn’t totally innocent because of how quickly he shot me down. You’d think if he was completely unaware of its racist implications, there would’ve been a moment of surprise when I raised the issue with him.
… I’d especially like people to know this can happen in Canada — we have a reputation of being this kinder, gentler nation, but that doesn’t mean we’ve eliminated racism. I’m actually surprised at how poorly racially integrated our country is compared to yours (based on my experiences working in Memphis and New York). We seem to tolerate but not participate with each other very much. So I’m especially pleased to open this dialog with you!
Thanks again for letting me share my story, and have yourself a wonderful long weekend.
Kim.
[Note: one of my Blend readers suggested that the cultural difference may or may not have played a partial role in the brusque reaction of the man being criticized. We can’t know what was going on in the man’s head, but certainly Kim’s comment took him aback. He didn’t bother to try to engage after taking offense to her engaging him with even polite criticism.]
Some questions for discussion:
* Would you be offended by the costumes?
(I think it’s a mistake to assume everyone would be, given those wearing the costume weren’t)
* If offended, which route would you take and why?
- do nothing and stay
- leave the event
- talk to the Rabbi
- discuss it directly with the person in question, as Kim did.
* If you discussed it with the person, what approach would you take?
Related:
* Exhibit A: Pat Buchanan - why we desperately need to discuss race
* Audio from my segment about race on the Mike Signorile Show
* Thoughts on Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’
As a member of the tribe, I would do this: talk to the person and ask them to remove the costume, tell the rabbi, and then leave once my religious obligations were finished (and inform the rabbi that I was doing so). I would also make the synagogue board aware of this (in many congregations, they carry as much or more weight than the rabbi in terms of policy and behavior–they ultimately hire and fire rabbis).
Disgusting.
I live in a suburb of Phoenix, and a few years ago all of my friends went to a Halloween party that I couldn’t attend. I think I was sick, or working or something. ANYWAY, these were mostly University students, between the ages of 20-25 was probably the average. My friends came back from the party showed me all these pictures, and the guy who hosted the party dressed in blackface! My friends were offended and immediately realized that this guy was a major douchenozzle, while one of my other “friends” thought the situation was funny and even has pictures of the two of them together stuck to her fridge with a coupla magnets. I think that the general excuse offered was that he was doing it “ironically,” which is really just an excuse for doing something offensive when really, you know better.
I am slightly confused by blackface, actually. I understand the historical bigotry behind it and why people would take offense (since it was incredibly demeaning and only used in that way) but I often wonder if the same is offensive for “whiteface”.
This is a horrible example because it’s Dave Chappelle and he does everything he does on purpose but, at various points during his show he put ‘white’ makeup on and acted “like a white person”. Would white people have had reason to be offended (if… the point of the show wasn’t all about controversy anyway)?
Obviously, blackface is a no-no. But is whiteface, yellowface, redface, or whatever as well? An honest question, I promise. As a mixed person it’s kind of hard to know these things sometimes.
Nicest Girl: it’s not that smearing paint of any color on your face is inherently offensive. It’s the particular history of blackface that makes it offensive. Blackface was worn by white people who would then act out the most degrading, dehumanizing stereotypes about black people. To some extent, “yellowface” and “redface” have the same kind of history, though not as much.
Dave Chappelle’s whiteface is funny because it’s a reversal of what used to be the norm. By wearing whiteface, he mocking points out (among other things) how racist blackface is and how white people would feel at being treated like that.
Wow, excellent thought from Kim and Pam, thank you so much for sharing this exchange!
I am kinda knocked for six. Reading this, I think Kim dealt with it as well anyone could. I was nodding along the whole way. But I don’t honestly know if I would have had the courage to speak to the person themself like that. That’s not a good thing, or an excuse, or anything. I think it’s partly the ingrained ‘don’t knock the boat at a social event, young lady!’ thing. But damn if I don’t have to overcome it.
So thank you. I am going to remember this, and the next time I see something like this, I am going to bring it up, politely, with the person involved. I’ve taken great heart from this. Thank you!
Nicest Girl,
Interesting question! Behaving or dressing “like a race” is always problematic because, obviously, there’s generalization involved, stereotypes are never true for all people, etc. etc.
But whiteface and blackface are not equivalent by any means. Whiteness, historically and unfortunately currently, is hegemonic here. We’re still in a culture that assumes white has no culture, where we use “whitebread” and “vanilla” to imply boringness. The assumption is that white is default and everything else has a color or a flavor because it is different - and usually, when the privileged class is stereotyping the subjugated class, that means “inferior.”
So wearing blackface - or taping eyelids to look “Oriental,” or any other racialized form of changing the face shape that has been used in film and stage - is a sign of difference associated with a host of other signs that usually imply inferiority of some sort: the childish gamboling of minstrel shows, the thick accent and “inscrutable”ness of Charlie Chan. Wearing whiteface, on the other hand, is kind of new to mainstream media, has a different history, doesn’t reproduce the same oppression as hegemony-squashing-other does.
(Not to say that it’s okay. Just that’s not the same thing.)
but I often wonder if the same is offensive for “whiteface”.
One of the more confusing aspects of any kind of asymmetric social power dynamic to understand is that it is not possible for the more powerful role to be mocked in the same way the less powerful role is. By that I mean using the “n-word” is ALWAYS more insulting/degrading than using “honkee” or (my personal favorite) “the hidden hairy hand of the white man”. When the less socially powerful try to degrade the majority group it comes out as “funny haha”, but when the majority mocks the minority it comes out as “funny weird” with a dangerous edge to it that hides a reminder of violence.
That’s all a really abstract way of saying that “whiteface” will never be seen by anyone as equivalently offensive as blackface. And it also means that “reverse racism” is practically impossible in a white-dominated society (it can happen only in the small enclaves where white is the minority).
I should clarify that the pictures she has on her fridge are of the two of them together, at the party, with him in blackface. That could read kind of reactionary if you leave that part out.
While I’m certainly a bit biased as I find Chappelle (and the other writers on his show) to be both hilarious and often painfully insightful, I could see a case being made regarding his use of “whiteface.” I don’t think it’s a valid comparison as Mr. Chappelle’s performances were rarely anything but basic observation. As I recall, the majority of his uses of makeup were playing roles that are overwhelmingly held by whites such as anchor positions or those in which a black individual would be expected to “act white.” Even those in which whites were put in a negative light, it was in the sense of being ignorant or naive. Certainly one could take offense but taking offense at a show that never hesitated to poke fun at everyone and everything is rather sad. It’s that crucial difference between poignant humor and ignorant humor.
Compare that to the use of blackface in portrayal of blacks as lazy or criminal and it becomes absurd to call reverse racism. If the blackface were simply a costume, why have I never heard of someone dressing as Morgan Freeman’s president character from Deep Impact (used for clever effect in one of Chappelle’s sketches), one of Samuel L. Jackson’s scientist characters (Jurassic Park, Deep Blue Sea, etc), or any other positive black role.
The simple fact is that adding a skin-tone change as part of a costume is rarely used for anything but offense and stereotype. I can’t think of any example in which a costume wouldn’t be just as valid without tossing in racial stereotype. The individuals at the party should be rightly ashamed of themselves.
I once had a colleague who told me his grandmother used the word “n***er” until the day she died, but she was NOT a racist — it was just “the way she was raised.”
I asked if she used the word in public: malls, restaurants, etc. He said no. I then pointed out that she knew it was offensive, yet she chose to keep doing it. He admitted (after a long silence) that I was right.
If Kim had taken Mr. Blackface’s picture and then told him she worked for a local newspaper and was going to print the photo, I wonder how he would’ve reacted. Not saying she should have done this, I just wonder.
And I’ve been completely beaten to the punch. But I’ll be honest, commenting at this site is worth it just to press “Blaspheme!” every time.
Strange; I myself had a very similar exchange, also in Canada, this past weekend. It was sparked by a display of blackface I found much more shocking than Kim’s party experience above: it was actually on a nationally-televised sketch comedy show, “Royal Canadian Air Farce”, and it featured a white actor done up in (subtle) blackface to play Barack Obama. My girlfriend and I were flabbergasted when we saw it, and we mentioned it to her parents this past weekend in passing. They defended the show’s decision and didn’t seem to understand why it was offensive. (Her parents are quite conservative and religious; of course, in Canada, that means that they still wholeheartedly support gay marriage and socialized health care. I love this country.)
The conversation forced me to be very specific about what’s wrong with blackface. I had mixed feelings about it, having read John Strausbaugh’s excellent and provocative history of blackface, “Black Like You”, which makes a strong case for blackface as an art form with a painful role in American history but also a potentially liberating one in our present and future. (Read the book. Really.)
Blackface is offensive to American blacks because of its history, and for no other reason. Indeed, this is why blacks wearing whiteface isn’t offensive to whites: the historical power relations between the two groups informs every display of blackface and makes it into a signifier of black oppression by whites. But it’s important to remember that Canada does not share America’s history of enslavement and lynching of blacks. Just as it’s hard for Americans to fully internalize just how offensive “gypsy” stereotypes are — it’s easy to find otherwise culturally sensitive Americans indulging in slang or costumery that would outrage anyone familiar with Roma persecution in Europe — it’s hard for Canadians to internalize how offensive blackface is.
Indeed, I think that to some degree we need to understand that the ban on “offensive” ethnic caricature can legitimately be relaxed outside the time and place where it gives the most offense. We all indulge in ethnic, religious, and cultural iconography every day that would no doubt offend the subject group if they were present. Every fakey “Irish” pub, every “toga party”, every “Redskin” or “Celtic” or “Viking” sports mascot, every Asterix and Obelix comic book, every historically suspect period drama that hits the theaters is a depiction of ethnic and cultural stereotypes that would no doubt outrage the subjects were they around to see their brutal, difficult lives depicted so insensitively. But the Vikings are not around; the ancient Celts and Romans are not around; the hunter-gatherer aboriginal Americans are not around. To expect the Canadians (or the Germans or Japanese, for that matter, whose countries are full of much more offensive African imagery than a little blackface) to treat this subject with the same gravity as Americans is to fall into the trap of America-centrism that drives so much of our cultural imperialism: slavery and lynching are America’s crimes, and America has to be careful about talking about them; but to expect the rest of the world to do the same is like a recovering alcoholic expecting the rest of the world to stop drinking.
That being said, yes, some historical and cultural sensitivity is always in order, with respect to blackface, to the word “gyp” or other painful reminders of the ongoing persecution of the Romani, even, to some extent, to the depiction of extinct cultures like the ancient Greeks and Romans, who after all were real human beings who lived and loved and believed in things and suffered like you and I. More complex cultural understandings are almost always better and more fulfilling. But it’s also important not to get up in arms about someone else’s lackadaisical employment of an ethnic stereotype when it’s you, not they, who have historically had problems treating that group as human beings.
Of course, Canada has its own racial sins that somewhat complicate the matter, but this comment is getting very long, so maybe that will go in another thread.
I guess I wouldn’t have known blackface to be offensive, because in New Orleans it’s most associated with the Zulu parade on Carnival day. Everyone who rides wears blackface - black, creole, white, everybody. So in that sense, it brings all these people together in a cultural tradition. It wouldn’t make sense to call the Zulu parade “racist” because it is one of the cornerstones of black culture in the city. The original Zulu king had a banana-stalk scepter and a lard-can crown, to make fun of Rex. So it has the same sardonic tradition as Dave Chappelle. The most famous Zulu king was Louis Armstrong. Etcetera…
In the context that LadyVetinari illuminated, I can see blackface as offensive. I’ve never seen it used that way before, so this is all new to me. Cultural context is important to interpreting these things, I suppose.
r68’s comment reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2DxyAGzGxM
WF
I can think of a specific instance on American TV where a white man does blackface pretty much without comment: when Darrell Hammond parodies Jesse Jackson on “Saturday Night Live.”
I’m guessing that one of the reasons he gets away with it is that Hammond often plays politicians like Bill Clinton, so they can argue that he’s just their “go-to” guy for all politicians. Plus they do seem to stay on-track with parodying Jackson specifically and don’t veer off too much into generalized stereotyping.
I’m too old to stay up late enough to watch the show anymore — who do they have playing Obama?
One thing to bear in mind is that there are two forms of racism: intentional and unintentional. And if someone is engaged in unintentional racism, and someone points it out, odds are the person will become defensive about it, just as anyone can become defensive when someone points out they’re doing something wrong regardless of what it is.
And before someone starts demanding what I mean about unintentional racism, let’s use another example: the Confederate stars-and-bars flag. To people in the US, especially the southeast, flying that flag is often an intentional message. In other countries, however (and I include many parts of Canada), the flag doesn’t have that subtext. It’s been portrayed more often in the media (where these people would have seen it) as a simple of rebellion and good ‘ol times (think of the flag on the roof of the General Lee in The Dukes of Hazzard. Someone flying that flag could be doing so out of complete ignorance of what it would mean to, say, someone from South Carolina or Georgia. The context behind the symbolism just isn’t there.
And if you went up to someone like that and informed them they were indicating support of racist behaviour by flying that flag, I’d bet they’d get defensive as well.
The other problem is, of course, racism simply because some racist stereotypes have been picked up and no one has ever called them on it, usually due to a lack of people of said race being around to raise the objection. And someone raised in that situation could also get defensive when it’s first called out, since for most people being called a racist is insulting if they don’t think they are.
I have an example of that myself: I grew up among lobster fishermen, and the powered capstan used to pull the traps up on some boats was called a…jeez, I can’t even type it these days…a n*-head. Somewhat crudely head-shaped and usually black, you get the idea. I’d heard this for years and never made the connection for the simple reason that I’d never personally heard the term used as an insult (although I probably unconsciously recognized it, because I never used the term myself). Once I realized what I was hearing as I grew older, I made a point of calling it a capstan and correcting others when they used the old term. One or two times was usually all it needed for them to catch on, typically with a red face resulting when the fisherman realized what they’d been saying for years.
(Changing technology helped too of course: capstans became less common on lobster boats as new forms of hauling traps were developed.)
The majority of men weren’t racist at heart: what had happened was that in the northeastern corner of New Brunswick, where and when they’d grown up, there were practically no black residents. Their fathers and grandfathers had used the term for that piece of equipment and they’d picked it up, most of them simply not making the connection to the racist origin of the word as the thought had never occurred to them. That one phrase was the only time the letter combination ever passed their lips.
I’ve seen blackface used similarly. The racial context to know the background just wasn’t there.
Now, that’s not to say that was the situation in the case, but it is one thing to bear in mind. One often has to approach these sorts of situations witht he thought that it might be utterly unintentional, and assuming otherwise cold end up beign counterproductive.
Matt’s comments brought up a question in my mind: Is there a difference between “blackface” and a white actor using makeup to play a black man? For example, similar to Matt’s story, Saturday Night Live recently had a white actor playing Barack Obama. If the actor isn’t carrying on with traditional, negative black stereotypes, it seems like that really isn’t “blackface”, to me. Am I wrong here? Does it become more of an issue if the character that the white actor is playing doesn’t have the same positive associations that Obama has?
(And I recognize that there will be a whole host of people saying that he should have been played by a black actor in the first place and this is just another example of how black actors have difficulty finding work, and I acknowledge that, but it really doesn’t answer my question.)
Aside from the historical background you mention, there’s one other thing to bear in mind in this particular case: RCAF is a show that spends a great deal of time on political humour, there aren’t any black cast members at the moment, and Americans do actually have someone with darkish skin who stands a good chance of being president.
Would it be better to pretend he doesn’t exist?
To answer Pam’s questions, I would leave the party and talk to the organizers later. This happened to me once - friends hosted a party with a Mexican theme and some people came in brownface, aping Mexican undocumented immigrants with tank tops and really offensive behavior. It was awful. They knew I was offended, and I left.
A similar incident occurred at the University of New Hampshire in - iirc - 1996. I should preface this by saying NH is approximately 96% white and the Durham campus where this took place isn’t much less white. Blacks are underrepresented even among minority groups at the school, and like most state schools, caters to in-state students.
A school association sponsored a lip synching performance night which pulled in quite a few “group” performers. One group (all white students) was portraying - again, iirc - the Jackson 5. They all dressed up in blackface. The handful of black students at UNH were quite disturbed, which led to a meeting between the offending students, a couple campus officials and a handful of the members of the black student community who chose to attend. It was open to the student body in entirety, and for several reasons I happened to attend as well, with a group of dormmates. There were easily less than fifty people in the room. The black students were a bit older, probably grad students, and listening to them they must have thought the white undergrad students were the most privileged, ignorant kids in the world. Most of the white students in the room had no knowledge of blackface or the history of representation of blacks in performance art. These were middle class kids, who basically had never learned (by their own fault and the fault of their parents/teachers) anything about the history of blacks in America beyond certain legal struggles and political milestones (3/5ths compromise, 13-15th amendments, Dred Scott, Brown v. Board, etc.). Their knowledge of racial issues was compartmentalized into a series of historical events they memorized, with little to no social context. By the end of the meeting, a couple of the white girls had thoroughly embarrassed themselves - I remember one said to the black students, “I don’t know how to talk to you,” [cringe] - and I left more confused than when I went in. I knew blackface was wrong because I was vaguely aware of its history and how it could be perceived, but I still left wondering whether the handful of students whose intent was not to offend, who had no idea that putting black makeup on their skin and dancing like the Jackson 5 could be seen as racist, were actually racist in their actions. Throughout the country, especially in places like NH, there are large communities of white people for whom interaction with any part of the African American community is in no way part of their 24/7/365. How do you treat people like this who unwittingly offend on racial issues? There’s a place for education, but how do you bring people to a level of self-awareness that they think to themselves they *should* seek out more history on US race relations, when they’ve basically been raised to believe that ignorance of black history racism?
Good point Keith, though that brings up another question in my mind: IF RCAF had a black actor, but a white actor was better able to portray Barack Obama’s (or Jesse Jackson’s or whoever’s) mannerisms, shouldn’t the white actor get the role? Isn’t it stupid (and even a little racist) to assume that just because an actor is black, he should be better able to play ALL black personalities than a white actor?
Those last lines should read: that ignorance of black history does not equal racism?
Scott Thompson in blackface on KitH Season 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef6p6nEKkkE
Is there a difference between “blackface” and a white actor using makeup to play a black man? For example, similar to Matt’s story, Saturday Night Live recently had a white actor playing Barack Obama. If the actor isn’t carrying on with traditional, negative black stereotypes, it seems like that really isn’t “blackface”, to me.
I see a big difference there. In one case, the actor is portraying a particular individual; in the other, the actor is protraying a stereotype. Now, it’s very possible (and maybe even likely) that the actor portraying the black individual may be employing stereotypes in the portrayal, but it’s not inherent in the portrayal of an individual
That’s what I ususally use as a touchstone: one indivudal can’t stand as a representative of all people who share some obvious (and unrelated) characteristic of that individual (fill in race, gender, profession, etc.). That’s why the whole “Senator Obama, please comment on these statements of random black people you have never met before” bullshit always makes me crazy.
To answer Pam’s questions - when I was in high school, several male members of my theater group thought it was hilarious to wear Afro wigs around. I thought it was stupid, but I didn’t realize it was racist. So I didn’t say anything.
It’s hard to know what I would do if that happened now, or if I was at a similar party to Kim’s. I would like to believe I would behave as courageously as she did, but I absolutely fear confrontation, especially with strangers. I think i would be more likely to complain to the rabbi/host of the party, leave if no action was taken, and write a letter explaining my position afterward (when people were no longer drinking and in the heat of the moment). I would explain that dressing up as a caricature of a black person was as offensive as if a frat boy put on fake forelocks, a kippah, and a big fake hook nose, and went around pretending to be grasping and greedy. I would say that as Jews (which I actually am, though lapsed), as people who suffered from such caricatures throughout our history, such behaviors should be abhorrent to us.
There’s an old song by They Might be Giants that seems very appropriate to this discussion “your racist friend”
This is where the party ends
I can’t stand here listening to you
and your racist friend
I know politics bore you,
but I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
and your racist friend
…
out from the kitchen to the bedroom to the hallway
your friend apologizes, he could see it my way
he let the contents of the bottle do the thinking
you can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding.
I first heard that song in highschool and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. It gave me the courage to stand for my convictions, and did remind me that to stay is to support. I’d rather leave a party, or even a family gathering (I have some interesting, but occasionally crude and incosiderate uncles) than to stay and lend my presence to displays or comments that I find repugnant.
There’s been some really good comments here, but one clarification, please:
RE: Canada TV show:
Is imitating Senator Obama, with the makeup necessary to pull it off, really blackface?
This isn’t the minstrel show, coal-black, big white lipstick look (I imagine), but just an attempt to more closely resemble Obama? IMO that’s not blackface.
I am, in general, wondering about whether there’s any non-racist way that a white person can dress in costume as a black person—say a specific black person, be it Barak Obama or Tina Turner or even a historical figure like Mary Ann Shadd (for a Hallowe’en costume, for example, or in a lip-sync performance) as an hommage. As a white person, I have no qualms about donning a farthingale and dressing as Queen Elizabeth I or interpreting the role of Mary O’Brien (an early 19th-century English settler in Upper Canada) for a historical presentation, but I’d feel queasy about interpreting the role of Mary Ann Shadd for the same presentation. I’d have few difficulties dressing up as, say, Sheila Copps or Elizabeth May (not that I’d want to associate myself with either of them), but I’d shy away from representing Jean Augustine, because I don’t think there’s any way to avoid being offensive, in a way that it wouldn’t be offensive for me to dress as Ms. Copps or Ms. May.
I guess I’ve answered my own concern. I can’t see a way that such a costume, howsoever it was intended, would avoid giving offense. So best to avoid such costumes, for myself, and find appropriately pigmented people to play those roles for occasions that call for specific black people to be represented (I’m thinking of historical interpretation and/or political commentary here).
(For those unfamiliar with Canadian politics, Sheila Copps was a Liberal MP, and longtime Cabinet Minister (Heritage and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada); Elizabeth May is the current leader of Canada’s Green Party, Jean Augustine is Ontario’s Fairness Commissioner, and was a Liberal MP, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Mnister and the chair of a bunch of parliamentary committees. And she’s black.)
Here’s a really bizarre question - and it is meant in all seriousness, not a “trick question” or to deliberately stir up controversey.
Please be kind.
I remember seeing some of the blackface cartoons, etc., growing up. As a child, I knew these were white people wearing black makeup and performing in a certain style. I had also seen old movies (courtesy of Mom) with black performers.
Here’s the bizarre part: I didn’t equate the blackface performers with the black performers. I didn’t realize that the blackface performers were parodying the black performers. I took it at face value (as only a child can, I guess) that they were two separate things.
In fact, it wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I even learned anything about the history of blackface, and that was pretty much limited to “a style of entertainment devised by whites for whites that parodied black entertainers”. Not exactly educactional, eh?
I simply wasn’t exposed to the cultural history behind blackface, and grew up in an area where the only time you might see blackface would be in an old cartoon or movie. And since I grew up in a house with 1 TV and only 3 channels (ah, pre-cable society…), my exposure was pretty damn limited.
Needless to say, I didn’t realize I should be (or even *could* be) offended by blackface because I didn’t understand the cultural underpinnings of it. I didn’t know that it was devised purely to denigrate black people.
I just knew that when I saw blackface, my reaction was usually “meh” or “that guy can’t act for beans”, not “funny!” or “great job making fun of n*****”.
Does that mean my lack of reaction was racist, because I didn’t speak out against something like blackface? A sin of omission, as it were? Could there be a lot of people out there like me, who truly don’t know *why* blackface is racist and offensive? (I know *now*, of course, but not then.)
Even now, while I understand intellectually that something like blackface is indeed racist through and through and I do my best to avoid supporting in any way such things, I simply don’t have an emotional reaction to it (such as the Jena Six situation). I don’t have an emotional reaction to Bugs Bunny or Al Jolson in blackface as I do to the image of a noose hanging in a tree - even though the latter provides the foundation of the former.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when seeing someone at a costume party in blackface wouldn’t have triggered an “How racist!” reaction in me. What would have triggered said reaction would have been behavior - a deliberate use of stereotypical black accents/speech patterns, etc.
Does that make me racist? Does that mean I’m so enmeshed in white cultural/societal expectations I may never free myself of them? How accountable should I be for my lack of knowledge? For not even knowing I *should* educate myself on a subject?
This is hard …
One more thing:
I think it would be nice if we lived in a world where a white person could, in playing a role (such as doing a Jackson 5 song-and-dance routine) wear makeup to darken their skin without the burden of the history of blackface. It would be nice if political impersonators could do so to. I just don’t think we live in that world, and as long as we live in a world and a society with a history of white performers wearing blackface, redface, or yellowface makeup to represent people of subjugated races and cultures in stereotypical and dehumanizing ways, skin-darkening by white people will be problematic. Even in Canada, we can’t escape that context simply by wishing it away.
jennie:
I don’t see what the issue would be with you portraying a black historical figure. As somebody answered in a question from me above, the issue isn’t really portraying A black person, it’s portraying ALL black people as the same and hanging awful stereotypes around their necks. Simply portraying a single black person doesn’t do this. If anything, it shows one of the vast range of individuals within the black community, helping to tear down the stereotypes that blackface builds up.
Mhorag:
In my view, there’s a difference between ignorance and racism. All of us are ignorant, to some degree, about one culture or another. It’s impossible to know how every culture on the planet expects us to act and what they consider offensive. So all we can do is try to learn more about the cultures that we interact with. This ignorance is different from the conscious choice that is racism. Or such is my two cents.
Speaking of bigots, here’s the latest from Rev. Wright:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200803/POL20080326a.html
“(Jesus’) enemies had their opinion about Him,” Wright wrote in a eulogy of the late scholar Asa Hilliard in the November/December 2007 issue. “The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans.”
Wright continued, “From the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth (in a barn in a township that was under the Apartheid Roman government that said his daddy had to be in), up to and including the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ death on a cross, a Roman cross, public lynching Italian style. …
Do we (you) really want to keep excusing this guy?
Is this better or worse than some dopey guy wearing blackface?
Who listens to this kind of hate speeach at church every week?
I’m with Jennie, and I think you’re missing the point a bit, redlegphi.
I work in the theatre, and part of the issue here is that black actors have been and continue to be ridiculously under-represented in the performing arts. I understand that you would like a complete meritocracy, and you think it would be a subtle kind of racism for a talented white actor not to get a role playing, say, a positive black historical figure. But jesus christ, can’t we actually let a black actor play the role? When we start putting talented black actors in white face to play George Washington, then I’ll consider starting to think about worrrying about reverse racism in issues of blackface.
“Who listens to this kind of hate speeach at church every week?”
Strawmen
While I acknowledge your point about the difficulty of black actors to find work, you’ve slightly missed my point on the racism issue of it. My point about the “subtle racism” isn’t that a talented white actor should get it over a black actor, but that it’s racist to assume that just because a person is black, he can play a role better than all white people. In essence, to me at least, this is just another way of saying all black people are the same, which is at the heart of stereotyping and racism.
I’m not trying to make excuses for the people who dressed in black face at the Purim Party, but I wonder how them being from another country played into the whole thing. Obviously on some level, they knew it might be perceived as offensive - hence their defensive reaction when called out on it - but I wonder if, like the New Hampshire middle school girls deep6 wrote about, they didn’t understand why it was offensive, making it more difficult to get through to them. I suspect there are plenty of white Americans who still would find black face amusing, but I think the folks who would actually do it, on Halloween for instance, are very small in number because there is more awareness of it being so offensive and at least an inkling of why.
I have to confess that I probably wouldn’t have said anything directly to them - I am afraid of confrontation - so hats off to Kim.
(WOW. Thanks for sharing this one, Pam)
I would definitely leave, but I HOPE that I would be willing to confront as well. Frankly, in our extremely small town, I’d be very concerned of backlash towards our kids. Knowing my husband, he definitely would calmly confront and eloquently point out the bigotry, as Kim tried to do, and speak to the organizers.
When I first brought him to Maine to “Meet the Parents”, we drove up from Baltimore and hit a bunch of outdoor flea markets along Rt 1. At one point while driving, he was shocked and flabbergasted to see in someone’s front yard an old blackfaced statue wearing jockey gear and holding a lantern in one hand and a metal hoop in the other.
He pointed it out as a “holy crap did I just see THAT?” I said that it had always been there and that sometimes you could find them in the Rt 1 yard sales. Then he explained, as I had no damned clue why he was so upset, about blackface and why either of the terms for those statues was racist. (I was told as a child that they were either “lawn jockeys” or “yard n*****s” and that the loop was for tying up one’s horse)
The one in particular was still there the last time I drove on that road last fall; that makes at least 40 years I know of.
Hmm, I see your point. I think, though, that casting isn’t nearly idealistic enough for that level of subtlety. Casting for physical type is simply the way things work; I don’t have a problem with the fact that beautiful people are always going to get cast ahead of average-looking people. I can absolutely guarantee that white people will continue to be cast in white roles. Since most of the roles are written for white people, this fact is of significantly more moment than the possibility that a black person might feel stereotyped by the opportunity to play a black character on stage.
When I’ve had the opportunity to direct, I love to fuck with casting. Women in men’s roles, black men portraying white women, whatever. But, in commercial theater (and film), we haven’t come close to achieving equality of opportunity, so I think there’s something wrong with giving “black” roles to white actors when there are myriad equally talented black actors looking for work. I have no sympathy for comedy shows that don’t have a black man around to play Barack Obama. The answer is to wake up and hire a talented black comic, not to hand wring and reach for the blackface.
Ah, good to know we have Libertarian to come in here and interject with “ZOMG, WHAT ABOUT TEH WHITEZZZ??!!1! WE ARE ZO TEH OPPRESSSED!!!11!”
Good grief, what a bunch of straw-personing.
Another thing I just thought of. My dad has always been a racist, as was his mother before him- I always knew that. But I was an adult before I understood the origins of one of his favorite jokes, the blackfaced “Amos and Andy” show:
Dad: Knock knock!
me: Who’s there?
Dad: Amos.
me: Amos who?
Dad: “A mos”quitoe bit me!
Dad: Knock knock!
me: Who’s there?
Dad: Andy
me: Andy who?
Dad: “And he” bit me again!
Hillary had one thing right yesterday- you can’t pick your family.
Why “fuck with casting”? This basically sends the message that your casting to be avant garde, at least to me. Why not just cast based on talent? If a black actor shows up and reads for a “white” role and he’s better than the whites auditioning, than he gets it. This doesn’t mean that every role needs to be flip-flopped or whatever. I think this would show people that the black actor didn’t get the role because the director’s an avant garde kook, but got it because he earned it by being a damn good actor. That would start to shift people’s expectations about going to the theater. In addition, it’d give a talented young black actor the chance to add a “white” role to his resume, possibly causing future directors to think about casting him in “white” roles.
Though really, I don’t know a damn thing about acting or the theater or anything like that, as the last play I was in was in 5th grade and that was some 17 years ago, so it’s probable that my perceptions about how things work and how things could change to eventually bring about a meritocracy are way off.
Clarification about Fred Armisen, who portrays Obama on Saturday Night Live: I think he’s half white, a quarter Latino, and a quarter Asian, something like that. One could argue that a mixed-race actor is the ideal guy to portray a mixed-race politician.
Several years back, my aunt and uncle hosted an annual Halloween party. Their friends, neighbors, and some relatives attended, but since my husband and I had a baby and drunk-driving 35 miles home is a bad idea, we didn’t go. Afterwards, my sister said it was just as well that I hadn’t gone, as one of the neighbors dressed up as a Chinaman—simple cotton clothes, coolie hat, and fake buckteeth augmented by a “Chinese accent.” I saw my aunt a couple months later at a family Christmas party and told her how offensive that was, and she refused to concede the point. “It was funny!” she said. It got heated, and I gave up and walked out of the room because it was pissing me off so much. (P.S. My husband is Asian-American!)
Now, the womenfolk in the family tend to get together at another aunt’s house. The one who hosted the Halloween party apparently tosses out the N-word at these gatherings (I’ve only been to one of them owing to lousy scheduling and the distance). My cousin took to ringing the bunco bell at my aunt whenever the word came out of her mouth; they’d told her the first time that she oughtn’t use the word, but she continues. And of course, she proved to be completely oblivious to the bell-ringing having anything to do with her word choice. She had no idea.
Now, I would absolutely be vocal about it if I heard my aunt use the N-word. It would probably get a little ugly. So my sister says maybe it’s just as well that the distance and scheduling keep me from attending. This pisses me off, of course, because that means what? That my sister (who’s not racist) would rather keep the environment comfortable for a racist than to keep it comfortable for me. Man, I hate the “don’t make waves” bullshit when the waves need to be made.
I think this is all on-topic. Apologies if it’s off-topic. (No, I don’t like blackface, either.)
We had the issue of blackface come up with my best friend’s kid a couple of years ago. S is a child actress and her father had written a part for her in the TV pilot he was pitching. But when it came time to shoot, they’d cast a black actor in the part of the little girl’s father. S wanted to know why she couldn’t still try out for the part in makeup — “It’s all acting, isn’t it?” she kept saying. And so, we had to sit down and give her a quick history of blackface, including some Al Jolson clips. She didn’t really understand why that kind of blackface was the same as wanting to do the part in full makeup, and spent several weeks exclaiming loudly how she wished she were black, how it was *so unfair* that she wasn’t. (Which we found pretty funny, actually). It was, as one says, a “teachable moment” — we got through to her eventually about why blackface is racist, and how she’s actually quite privleged to be pretty and white and have parents who make a good living, but it took a while. She is an actress after all … our little diva …
Hey redlegphi, I’m gonna stop arguing, because I actually find your vision of rational, meritocratic theatre rather compelling. That would be a refreshing change!
One note on its impracticality: I tried something like you recommend in college, casting a cross-dressed woman as Prospero in The Tempest, not to make a gender statement particularly, but because she was hella good with the blank verse. Generally, everyone enjoyed the show, but all my professors and friends could talk about after was what on earth I was saying about gender by cross casting.
We had a very interesting encounter with blackface at my university a couple years ago. At a “Most Offensive Costume” Halloween party, there was the obligatory Hitler, but someone also had the poor judgment to dress up as our University President in blackface.
Needless to say, this stimulated a lot of discussion about race and racism, which was sorely needed at our (predominantly white) campus, but I never got over the fact that by wearing the costume to that party, whoever it was was stating that blackface is comparable to Nazism.
It’s synchronicity!
I was at a science fiction convention this weekend — which is a gathering of *my* tribe. I was manning an information table for a group I belong to when something about a couple of people walking down the hall towards our table caught my attention. I don’t know what subconscious trigger brought my attention to them but I very quickly realized that it was 2 white people in dark brown body paint. Well, and some sort of costume as well. I was so startled it took a minute for by brain to begin to work and by that time they were past me and gone. I was the only one at the table so I couldn’t leave, but I kept thinking about it.
Their presentation didn’t have the exaggerations typical of black face. The body paint was very dark brown, not black. No outlining of the facial features in white. None of that sort of thing. As far as I could tell in the brief time I saw them they were behaving as normally as anyone ever does at an sf con. Were they offensive? I really don’t know, but I sure am curious as to their backstory.
MKK
Since when are Jews ‘white’? Don’t they remember when the doors were closed to them as well?
Blackface is not playing a character, it is racism. Any white doing this should be portraying a role…if not…they are racists.
Mary kay:
Well, it WAS a sci fi con. Could they have just been portraying aliens or something that just happens to have brown skin?
Justin Nisly:
Interesting point on The Tempest casting and I guess I can understand how it would be irritating for people to think you were trying to say something about gender or race every time you cast somebody in a role of a different gender or race. Though, if this was done enough, wouldn’t people stop asking those questions and eventually just appreciate the acting for what it was? Though, of course, that could cause issues if the director actually WAS trying to say something about gender or race through casting.
And to be clear, I don’t consider this an “argument” at all. This is just one of the most interesting and open discussions of race I think I’ve seen on the internet, so I’m trying to stay involved with it and get insight from others.
About the original post… I would strongly recommend following up the issue with a letter to the Community Centre’s newsletter and/or director. This is more than just about the one guy and his friends…. because everybody at the party tacitly approved the costume, they all need to be called out as a local community and institution.
I appreciate the letter.
Best,
s.
Redlegphi: Well, yeah which is where my uncetainty comes from. But given the whole history around blackface, can even an alien just happen to have brown skin? When it’s a white person in costume?
MKK
I’m gonna stop arguing, because I actually find your vision of rational, meritocratic theatre rather compelling. That would be a refreshing change!
To a certain extent, live theater has already made this change. Unless the play has a particular racial element (like, say, “A Raisin in the Sun”), it’s pretty common for actors to be cast on merit and not race/ethnicity. One of my coworkers is in a small theater company that put on “Arsenic and Old Lace” in period, but they still had a black guy playing a cop. My coworker is Asian, but he still played Mr. Weatherby.
It’s even more obvious in areas where talent is really primary, like opera. I saw the touring company of the San Francisco Opera (which is one of the best in the world) and for “The Marriage of Figaro,” you had Asians, African-Americans, and Caucasians all performing. I think the lead was Egyptian. So the closest we get to meritocracy right now is live theater, I think
Well Mary Kay, as I think you can probably tell from my posts above, my feelings on the issue are that it’s a problem if blackface is being use to express stereotypes about black people. So if their brown-skinned aliens are also acting out those stereotypes (or Latin-American stereotypes or whatever), then there’s a huge issue. But sometimes, a brown-skinned alien is just a brown-skinned alien.
This is one of my pet issues because I’m a theatrical/sfx makeup geek - and…. because they cast a white guy for the title role in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie (sigh). One of the tangential problems of black/yellow/brownface in the entertainment industry was that it was used to protect the jobs of white actors so much that any major role where the character was nonwhite, they’d cast a white person and then justify it by claiming there were no minority actors talented enough. And then you’d get things like Bruce Lee being passed over for the lead in that Kung Fu series. And make no mistake, even though it’s not as endemic, that stuff is still going on today (Oded Fehr would have been my dream choice to play the Prince…), and the other side of that coin is when minority actors get overlooked for roles in “race-neutral” scripts, since unfortunately race-neutral gets coded white (interesting interview with America Ferrara:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/40925/page/9).
Here’s an article on the history of yellowface:
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/18/18_yellow.html
Oh man Mary Kay, it’s funny you should mention “blackface” in terms of cosplay… I hate to admit that it bothers me to see the white kids dressing up as dark skinned anime characters and painting their skin to match- NOT because it has any racist history behind it (cos I don’t feel it does), but because there is this painfully ignorant double standard when it comes to minority cosplayers. I’ll dress as “white” anime characters even though I’m not, but I won’t wear makeup to make my skin lighter. And when dark-skinned anime/comics/sci-fi characters are few and far between I do find myself more likely to want to go as them (Storm from X-men, Yoruichi from Bleach, Leetah from Elfquest, etc)… and more likely to do characters who have totally nonhuman skin colors (my next costume will be Mouse from Reboot… who is purple). But I have a black female friend who absolutely adores cosplaying as Sailor Moon, and gets a lot of shit for it because “Sailor Moon isn’t black, silly!”
Gosh I really made a huge nerd of myself there
Two Halloweens ago, went to a party where someone was dressed in blackface and wearing one of those stupid “Rasta” wig/hat combos. I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t. Anything I would have said to that person would have been incoherent because of my anger and hurt.
That person spent the whole night avoiding me and whenever she did accidentally catch my eye, she would turn away and look ashamed. She knew it was offensive, but thought a) all of her ironic hipster friends would think it was ironically hip and b) no black people would be attending that party.
But, even now I wish I had spoken up. I wish that I could have let her know how hurtful and insensitive she was being. I really admire Kim for speaking up.
Their presentation didn’t have the exaggerations typical of black face. The body paint was very dark brown, not black. No outlining of the facial features in white. None of that sort of thing. As far as I could tell in the brief time I saw them they were behaving as normally as anyone ever does at an sf con. Were they offensive? I really don’t know, but I sure am curious as to their backstory.
They were probably drow. Now, one could argue that this has its own problems - a race of violent, spider-worshipping elves who just happen to be dark-skinned and matriarchal.
If it’s any consolation, if she spent the night avoiding you and being embarrassed, she will never do it again. When you’re dealing with someone in the same social circle, shunning is pretty effective. Every glare directed towards that girl probably felt like a laser.
When it’s a ticketed event with strangers (as seems to have been the case with the Purim event), shunning won’t work, so it was great that Kim took the bull by the horns and told the people what she thought.
Mnemosyne:
I think you’re right that live theatre is currently the most egalitarian of the performing arts. Not too surprising, really, since theatre has been on the leading edge of just about every major American movement for social equality.
Hmmm…
This is a fascinating subject… while I think there’s little doubt as to the racist nature of blackface, I find myself wondering where exactly the lines are in adopting stereotypical appearance and garb of non-white ethnic groups.
A specific situation comes to mind… a good friend of mine named Tara - a club kid into techno music and raves and the like - is OBSESSED with Asian culture. Now, she is of Italian and Lebanese descent, and has absolutely no Eastern heredity whatsoever, but physically, she could pass as Asian with the right makeup… her favorite costume for masquerades is a traditional Japanese kimono, and she wears the makeup of a traditional geisha, with her hair in a bun held together by the… umm, stick-things (I don’t know what they’re called) that look like wooden knitting needles.
I don’t think she wears this costume in any way to mock Japanese culture, and I certainly don’t see her holding racist beliefs against Asians - some of her closest friends are Asian, she works in a sushi shop, and her current boyfriend is an exchange student from Osaka.
But is she crossing the line in dressing in a traditional costume of the Japanese (and she looks convincingly Japanese wearing it), when she is not remotely of Asian descent?
Would you be offended by the costumes?
Yes I would be. Just as I would be offended by yellowface, whiteface, and any other ____face. And the offense comes in on two fronts.
1. Most people in the US know the history behind blackface. Its a reference to a terrible era in American history.
2. The simple notion of wearing a costume is for fun and jokes (and scary). To get a good laugh if you will. How is immitating another race in any way, shape, or form funny? To immitate another race for the purpose of getting a laugh is means that they find that race funny therefore immitating them meets the condition of wanting be funny or scary. Are asian people funny? Are native americans scary?
And that also goes for gender. If a woman puts on a football uniform to say “men are stupid jocks” or a man puts on a blond wig and a cheerleader outfit to say, “women are blond airheads” it would be no better than this racial example from Kim.
If offended, which route would you take and why?
Well that would depend on the situation. If I’m alone (meaning I don’t have realiable backup if it gets physical) I would just leave but if later asked why I left I would tell exactly why I left. If I do have reliable backup then I would have spoken to one of the people (one on one of course). If they leave fine, if they argue fine, but if they wanna fight fine.
My question is like DTG in STL’s: I’m East Indian, and for Halloween last year a bunch of us dressed up in seventies gear: bell bottoms, loud shirts etc. I actually haven’t seen any pop culture representations of people who were brown like me living in that time period and my parents were from a different country, so I bought a ‘fro wig. I didn’t do any skin darkening, and I don’t think I was participating in propagating a negative sterotype, but I was definitely appropriating another culture/race’s appearance.
Was that blackface? Does it make a difference if it was a person of color doing it? I feel aweful now.
While I wholeheartedly agree that so-called “reverse racism” can never exist in a white-controlled society in the institutionalized manner in which racism exists against blacks, I’m not sure that I agree with the idea that it is impossible for African-Americans to hold “racist” negative perceptions against white people based upon stereotypes and applied to the entire group.
I have a personal experience on this… About a week after the videotaped beating of Rodney King beating was splashed all over the country on the nightly news, I was the victim of a brutal assault by a group of older African-American teens. I was with my little brother and three other friends playing baseball on a local playground, and a group of about 12-15 older black kids came walking across the playground… they approached my friend in the outfield and said something to him, which he said he couldn’t understand, and he turned around a started walking back towards the rest of us… we knew something was wrong because of his nervous trot. One of the black kids came up behind him a clocked him in the back of the head with brass knuckles. They then proceeded to beat the snot out of the rest of us, and I was hit several times in the head with a baseball bat. All I remember hearing from my assailants was “we gonna do you like you did Rodney King.”
I walked away from that experience extremely angry, and for a little while, I became tremendously racist… it took me a lot of time to move past that and to see it for what it was.
Today, I see that I was the victim of backlash… that when you push a certain group of people around long enough, there’s going to be consequences. My story was an example of the type of consequences I’m talking about.
Now, I’m not so self-hating as to think that I “deserved” this in any way, but I get how people can feel pushed to violent means when they feel as though they have been systemically stepped on for so long.
Could I forgive my assailants if I came face to face with them today? I don’t know. Do I think that I was the victim of a racist assault, that I was attacked because I was white and had I been black I likely would have been left alone? Absolutely.
Do I see how projecting the justified anger that I felt over that situation onto an entire race of people doesn’t help anybody? Yes… but it took me a few years to get there.
It saddens me to realize that the tremendous rift between the races in our culture - not just the in your face rifts that we see everyday but also the subtle unseen rifts which many of us, myself included, take for granted - is something that we are so far away from resolving peacefully. And as long as one race is systemically stepped upon in the way that they have been for 400 years, an unfortunate consequence is that some folks in that group will retain serious, though justifiable, resentments. And those resentments will manifest themselves in situations like mine. And folks like Pat Buchanan will look at situations like mine to try to argue that there is some sort of “moral equivalency” in the racial animosity exhibited at times by both groups.
I was really worried about double-posting but errrr here’s the comment without links in it if that will help?
This is one of my pet issues because I’m a theatrical/sfx makeup geek - and…. because they cast a white guy for the title role in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie (sigh). One of the tangential problems of black/yellow/brownface in the entertainment industry was that it was used to protect the jobs of white actors so much that any major role where the character was nonwhite, they’d cast a white person and then justify it by claiming there were no minority actors talented enough. And then you’d get things like Bruce Lee being passed over for the lead in that Kung Fu series. And make no mistake, even though it’s not as endemic, that stuff is still going on today (Oded Fehr would have been my dream choice to play the Prince…), and the other side of that coin is when minority actors get overlooked for roles in “race-neutral” scripts, since unfortunately race-neutral gets coded white.
Oh man Mary Kay, it’s funny you should mention “blackface” in terms of cosplay… I hate to admit that it bothers me to see the white kids dressing up as dark skinned anime characters and painting their skin to match- NOT because it has any racist history behind it (cos I don’t feel it does), but because there is this painfully ignorant double standard when it comes to minority cosplayers. I’ll dress as “white” anime characters even though I’m not, but I won’t wear makeup to make my skin lighter. And when dark-skinned anime/comics/sci-fi characters are few and far between I do find myself more likely to want to go as them (Storm from X-men, Yoruichi from Bleach, Leetah from Elfquest, etc)… and more likely to do characters who have totally nonhuman skin colors (my next costume will be Mouse from Reboot… who is purple). But I have a black female friend who absolutely adores cosplaying as Sailor Moon, and gets a lot of shit for it because “Sailor Moon isn’t black, silly!”
Gosh I really made a huge nerd of myself there
Hmm… well now I’m all embarassed cos I spent 2 hours refreshing the thread to avoid multiple posting… Oops…
I’m not sure what I think about the whole Fred Armisen playing Barack Obama kerfuffle at this point… I don’t think he does a terribly good job of getting the mannerisms down, but at the same time, I think Darrell Hammond nails Jesse Jackson’s mannerisms abous as good as anybody could expect.
I do know this… Fred Armisen isn’t “white”, at least not in the traditional European sense of what white is…
He’s of Venezuelan and Japanese ancestry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Armisen
Member of the tribe with an Israeli background chiming in here. Kim, thank you for doing the right thing.
If the party was held at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, please note they have, in no particular order, a President, an Executive Director, as well as VP Operations, VP Administration and a large board of directors who can all be notified.
Purim is a celebration of the bravery of a Jewish woman who chose to stick her neck out rather than stand by and doing nothing. *looks significantly at Kim L*
Ben Kingsley…
Played an Indian peace icon - “Ghandi”
Played a Jewish Holocaust Survivor - “Schindler’s List”
Played an Iranian immigrant - “House of Sand and Fog”
He’s British by nationality, with an English mother and an Indian father.
He was SPECTACULAR in all three of these films, though only one of them was for a role with whom he shared racial components.
Is this problematic?
Questionstar, I knew all of the names you gave- my daughter draws incredible anime constantly and gets up at 4:50am every morning to watch Inuyasha before school! We’re hoping to figure out some sort of graphic artist/ cartooning career; she’s really remarkable.
Yay! I’m Mom of Future Nerdette!!
Questionstar…. Barret from FF7, Kiros from FF8 (admittedly not female)
And damn, it’s not only racist and rude to tell someone they shouldn’t cosplay a character because the cosplayer is black. My response: No, she’s not black. She’s Japanese, WTF are all those white girls thinking?
I didn’t finish my sentence! It’s not only rude and racist, those (probably) white people are in serious denial.
Recently her school had Hollywood Day, where the kids could dress as anyone on TV. There were a few “Larry the Cable Guys” and the like- my girl wore her kimono, fashioned her own armor, and went as Songo (no makeup).
And she’s reading a new anime magazine right now; has been learning some Japanese and wants to visit Japan someday. Fascinated with the artwork and culture.
Several years ago I saw Othello at the Shakespeare Theater in DC, with an all-black cast except for the character of Othello, played by Patrick Stewart. I thought it was a brilliant twist. They changed a few words so that references to Othello’s dark skin become about his white skin, but all of the racist language was left in. It was mind-boggling to imagine a society in which a white man was seen with the negative stereotyped characteristics associated with black men, and black women to be viewed as pure maidens who would be sullied by white men.
As to kimonos as costumes and such: I think it matters whether or not you are genuinely interested in and respectful of the culture. If someone is learning some Japanese, wants to visit Japan, and immerses themselves in the culture in a respectful and non-exploitative way, I think it’s fine, good even for a child or teenager. But if the kimono is a last minute choice for a Halloween costume, that’s different.
I was raised Amish, a group that gets discriminated against more than most people think, since they basically never talk to the press. Whenever I see these strange hippies who attempt to dress like the Amish (there were a number in Ithaca, NY) I question them about the original culture. If they can’t even tell me about Amish pacifism or religious belief or persecution during the World Wars, I think they’re definitely crossing a line.
Did not know that; having a Paul Harvey moment! Thank you very much, Aviva…
Louise, I used to get up at 5:30am every morning to watch Sailor Moon before school, I didn’t grow out of it lol! Good luck with your daughter though, I’m an artist too but now I’ve got a job in community development and am thinking of persuing a career in social justice… something I didn’t forsee that’s for sure! (interestingly both of my parents were musicians who switched majors in college to become scientists)
Well, Astraea, fandom nerds aren’t necessarily the most self-aware people around (if they were, reminders to shower wouldn’t be a part of the official rules at comic conventions)… and anime fandom is probably the worst as you do get a lot of people who fetishize japanese and asian culture in general. : Honestly race issues in sf/fantasy nerd culture could be a whole other discussion.
louise, you’re welcome. It’s an interesting story, not least of which because god is never mentioned, making it an unusual religious text.
The story is contained in Megillat Ester (”The Scroll of Esther”), which is read aloud as the main part of the Purim festivities. Esther is a (secretly Jewish) woman married to the King of Persia. The King is being egged on by his main advisor to massacre the Jews; Esther, prompted by her uncle, reveals her ancestry and saves her people. She could have easily said nothing and continued to live in safety and luxury.
In the interests of full feminist disclosure: the reason Esther is married to the King in the first place is that his first wife, Vashti, was uppity, he got rid of her and then conscripted gorgeous young women looking for a replacement.
Too bad they didn’t have reality TV in ancient Persia…
That is a beautiful story, Aviva.
One of my ancestors was an Esther; on her gravestone there is an inscription of “After the harvest, there is rest”. That has always stuck with me.
I believe that there is a real cultural difference or
rather gap that has occurred, and there is honest
confusion over the depiction of “Blackface”.
I remember somethings from my childhood that
stand out squarely in my mind. The fact that
my little corner of America was completely the same.
That my classes in school, offered no diversity.
Nor did it occur to me that this was not normal.
So when we did relocate to Kentucky, a very southern
state, where plenty of history is written into it’s
residences laws, etc. You cannot avoid learning more
then enough about “Blackface” that you end up
constantly apologizing for another generations
confused morals, and decadence. I honestly believe
that some of the “reverse racism” was started in the
south. The battle of Gettysburg still rages on today
in the Market, In the street, Jobs, everything.
You are lucky if your oblivious to it, you go about
your daily life and unless your a minority, it doesn’t
really effect you. But if your not oblivious to it,
nor purposefully ignorant. You can not avoid the
hate, nor anger directed toward the victims. Blame
the victim is all of our cultures. Not that we want
it that way. But it’s there none the less.
I am not oblivious, and it pains me to have to be
a constant witness to racism, and the reverse.
(though to be honest, they have a reason). Like the
thread I just read about Bullies. (read the thread)
Well, here in the deep south, (though we aren’t
Georgia, the sentiments are very deep) “Blackface”
is only offensive and disgusting when describing the
only jobs fit for sub-humans. Sad, gross and painful
So the dipiction of Barak Obama on SNL, no, that’s
not “blackface”, and the students who were playing
Jackson 5, no not “blackface”. I guess you have to
really LIVE in the racism to understand. There isn’t
a nice way to describe it.
The reason “Blackface” is so so insulting, and vile
is the portral. Whenever you see true “Blackface”
there is always the key of them in subjugated parts.
“The criminal”, “The Rapist”, “The Maid” ,or “Butler”
It literally pains me to even have to explain this part
and I guess that’s also why racial dialog is hard
and gets lost in anger and frustration. Because
there really isn’t any reason for ignorance. None,
we have heaped so much pain, misery and hurt on
different races that you should know the pain your
race inflicts on someone else before you leave 5th
grade. Without explanations, without history dialog.
These are the types of instances found in freaking
DISNEY movies. (Song of the South anyone?)
No the portral of Barak Obama on SNL is not black-
face. No a white person just dressing up as Jackson
5 is not blackface.
Unless they are engaged in the type of portals I
describe. Stereotypes that have constantly and ALWAYS
managed to make white people afraid of black people.
It’s fear, end of story. The entire thing is fear of the
unknown. And as a result, Blackface is and ALWAYS
will be offensive and disgusting. “Blackface”’s original
use and depiction, was used to make whites fear, hate
and loath people of color. What whites hate, they
laugh at, as if they could “win” the race war.
And it is a war. The whites want to rid themselves
of their own sins. Since they can’t do that, they will
drive them down the road tied to the back of a truck
and say and do what ever it takes to wipe them out.
THAT is “Blackface”. The reason behind it. I have lived
here for nigh on 30 yrs now, and nothing has
ever offended me more then seeing a KKK member
dressed in “Blackface”.
Apologies for my badly formatted post. *blush*
I would find it offensive. My first reaction was that, sadly, I would just leave instead of tracking down people to complain to. But then I thought, that’s because I’m not seeing myself as part of the group. If it happened at a Science Fiction Convention– then I’d talk to Con Ops, to Security, to the Con newsletter, to the Masquerade Director, and to the fans doing it. Fandom has always taken pride in multi-racial casts in shows, yet we are mostly whites and Asians, and if we want other people to feel welcome, we’d best treat them with respect.
… and scrolling up, I see that people have had to deal with racists in fandom. Ick.
I LOVE the anime fangirls!!!!
My sister wrote a one-woman show in which she talks about wanting to dress up as Vanessa Huxtable for Halloween when she was a kid. If I remember correctly, there was even a photo of the costume. There was something about it both horrifying and hysterical.
Re: white folks in brown make up as aliens and a scifi con. If the eyebrows turn up, the are Old Series Klingons. If they have forehead ridges, they are modern Klingons. Klingons are brown. We could argue about whether there was racism behind making the aggressive, strong, intelligensia-scorning Klingons brown (I think yes), but the fans think Klingons are honorable and cool. I also think the Ferengi (short, big ears & noses, sexist, obsessive about money) are also a racism-inspired creation.
Wow! This is an amazing thread!
louise: Amos and Andy was blackface?! *headdesk* Now I really feel ignorant ….
Danny: “The simple notion of wearing a costume is for fun and jokes (and scary). To get a good laugh if you will. ” Actually, I participated for several years in amateur costuming (sort of an off-shoot of the costume-calls of sci-fi conventions), and trust me - it’s not all about the laugh. We actually have a term for people who are absolutely FANATICAL about accuracy - “authenticity Nazis.” These people exist to make other people miserable, I swear! If you’re not authentic from the skin out, you’re a horrible costumer!! Therefore, if you (for instance) wanted to recreate a Japanese daimyo costume from the Shogunate era, you’d better either find a Japanese person to wear the costume, or wear make-up that makes *you* look Japanese - otherwise, it’s NOT AUTHENTIC!! Arrggghhh ….. I gave it up because it’s a really expensive hobby, but I enjoyed it while I participated.
Samantha Vines: Now for my nerdy moment - based on information that was authorized and licensed by Paramount and Lincoln Enterprises, and presented in various roleplaying games, movies, etc., Klingons are dark because their home planet orbits around a blue-white star (they survive because of the heavy cloud cover). But the ultraviolet rays still caused them to develop a heavy melanin to protect themselves. The pale, ridgeless Klingons are actually hybrids, a cross between Klingons and humans, deliberately bred by the Klingon Empire for use as spies, etc. (Remember the Trouble with Tribbles?) Eh, mostly it made it fun to do Klingon costuming - only (of course) me and my friends had to include lots of glittery stuff (we were the Klingon Imperial Diplomatic Services - KIDS, so you know we didn’t take it too seriously). I wore darker makeup (about 4-5 shades darker than my natural color) so help disguise the fact that I had a fake scar (yay, latex) in effort to make me look scary (I’m normally about as scary as your average teddy bear). NOT ONCE did I ever make a connection between Klingons being dark and African-Americans.
As far as the insinuation that the Ferengi are Jewish stereotypes … in the first episode they were introduced, weren’t they directly compared to Yankee traders - y’know, those *white*, mostly American people who would do anything to make a buck? Who lied, cheated, stole, and basically set the foundation for the corporations of today? Again, I never, *never* saw a connection between the Ferengi and racist stereotypes. Wowser.
onejewishdyke: I’m so jealous you got to see what had to be a phenomenal retelling of Othello!
Loosely Twisted: Thank you, thank you for your explanation of blackface! It helped me understand so much about the thought processes behind it, and how to differentiate it from simple thoughtlessness. Thanks again!
“The pale, ridgeless Klingons are actually hybrids, a cross between Klingons and humans, deliberately bred by the Klingon Empire for use as spies, etc. (Remember the Trouble with Tribbles?) ”
On Star Trek Enterprise that was a result of a cure to a virus inflicated on the Klingons by Section 31. Later on they managed to reverse the change hence why Work commented they didn’t talk about it.
That is the offical tv explanation. There were a few others such as that there were several races of Klingons and that for a few time the weak ridged ones took control so the rest of the Klingons underwent surgery to advance in the low bridge society.
Another explanation was that the high bridged klingons are the result of genetic enginering and the rest of the klingons underwent genetic surgery to be those more stronger klingons.
Yes the Ferengi were meant to be the primary antagonists however that role went to the Cardiasians who were so well received after one episode they rewrote things.
Ugh what a mess. Let me clear that up being sleepy is not conductive to good posting.
There have been several explanations for why the Klingons look different between Star Trek: The Original Series and when they popped up in Star Trek: The Movie for their brief appearance before V’Ger took center role. Btw according to some of the books V’Ger was actually found by the early Borg and sent back by them. Due to a black hole’s effect V’Ger could have been sent back thousands of years.
Star Trek: Enterprise seems to be the offical canon explanation for now at least. Namely that the high forehead strong violent Klingons are how the species naturally looks.
Due to the clandestine pre-federation group Section 31 which still survives to the time of Deep Space Nine and beyond the Klingons underwent a change in their biology. They were infected with a virus that would wipe them out however the Enterprise devised a cure that genetically changed t