Blackface: WTF?

[bagtagley]

edit: and I'd rather this not devolve into a PolyAss thread. Please stay on topic.

Released by BIg League Politics on the first day of Black History Month going into an election cycle. That’s about as political as it gets.

[Vt-Freeheel]

[KQ]

I cannot understand.

Has society failed this child? Did his school gloss over US history between 1500 and 1865? Why is sentiment like this even thought about in 2019 let alone put to paper for all to read?

I am making the assumption that neither this child nor his parents are racist but perhaps they are because it obviously never entered his mind that such a promposal would be in poor taste.


Student held racist promposal sign. Now he's banned from the prom

[Vt-Freeheel]

Lot-O-Backwoods places in Ohio

[iceman]

Incident here 3 days ago. Where this happened just got ranked the best high school in Maryland and in the top 100 nationally. It's in a very affluent, educated area, this is not the back woods by any stretch. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesd...investigation/

[KQ]

Good gawd.... Issaquah Washington:

Issaquah School District, teen in picture respond to racist photo

[iceman]

Good gawd.... Issaquah Washington:

Issaquah School District, teen in picture respond to racist photo

That's about the sign you posted a couple posts up^^. It was a girl (not a guy as you thought) who made the sign. Everybody is saying the right things, really. Seems to be more stupidity than anything else by the girl.

[jono]

That's about the sign you posted a couple posts up^^. It was a girl (not a guy as you thought) who made the sign. Everybody is saying the right things, really. Seems to be more stupidity than anything else by the girl.

Separate incidents; she saw and copied his sign. Which kind of makes it even more mind boggling.

[iceman]

whoa really? I need to read that again.

[Danno]

Mind boggling indeed. But kids are dumb (though I was never that dumb). Still, like ice said, she and her parents said all the right things after. Sometimes it's ok to just acknowledge that someone made a big mistake and move on.

[jfost]

Mind boggling indeed. But kids are dumb (though I was never that dumb). Still, like ice said, she and her parents said all the right things after. Sometimes it's ok to just acknowledge that someone made a big mistake and move on.

not by the current standard,

life in prison, nothing less...

[neufox47]

Incident here 3 days ago. Where this happened just got ranked the best high school in Maryland and in the top 100 nationally. It's in a very affluent, educated area, this is not the back woods by any stretch. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesd...investigation/

I think we will see more of this. Without understanding the history of blackface the idea it is taboo seems silly. If you grow up never really knowing what it is / was then it seems ridiculous that putting makeup on to make your skin darker is an outrage. “Wait so I can make my skin green, red, blue, yellow, or pink and no one cares, but black and brown are not allowed?” Tell a bunch of kids to not do something because it is outrageous and they do it at least 10% of the time.

[wyeaster]

tough to get the white folks to remember how shitty they are to black folks and others. i mean, it's only been 6 generations since slavery. that's a lot of information to keep track of. maybe white folks have genetically inferior memories.

[iceman]

maybe white folks have genetically inferior memories.

Ever heard of the Balkans? Or Ireland?

[wyeaster]

Ever heard of the Balkans? Or Ireland?

yeah, it was obviously a joke about gringos and their slavery.

[jono]

It is kinda awesome how we expect the youth to be born remembering the shameful and covered-up sins of the ancient and even long dead. Meanwhile in Vietnam they try to look forward almost to a fault.

Is this a first world privilege, or just a feature of American culture for the next generation to rebel against?

[wyeaster]

It is kinda awesome how we expect the youth to be born remembering the shameful and covered-up sins of the ancient and even long dead. Meanwhile in Vietnam they try to look forward almost to a fault.

Is this a first world privilege, or just a feature of American culture for the next generation to rebel against?

yeah, weird. if only there were adults who cared and history books to inform for those poor kids who aren't born remembering.

[KQ]

It is kinda awesome how we expect the youth to be born remembering the shameful and covered-up sins of the ancient and even long dead. Meanwhile in Vietnam they try to look forward almost to a fault.

Is this a first world privilege, or just a feature of American culture for the next generation to rebel against?

A HS student is hardly "just born."

[jono]

A HS student is hardly "just born."

True, and particularly so with respect to those signs, which can't even make sense without a carrying racist statement.

I was referring more to black face, which as a cultural phenomenon only carries the meaning it does for those who know about it. (See green face.) So we educate kids about the ugly meanings of racist symbols and in the process preserve their meaning. Not saying ignorance is better, but at some point it should be a goal to look at this historically without piling on the emotional weight that empowers such symbols.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

A HS student is hardly "just born."

This.

Pulling a blackface stunt or something similar is far more destructive to a school community than selling drugs in the bathroom and every high school student with a half a lick of sense knows it. But the poor kid selling shitty weed in the bathroom gets expelled and the rich kid caught doing Aunt Jemima imitations says, "sorry" on camera while standing in front of his contrite looking parents, who are actually pretty fucking pissed he might not get into Duke. Meanwhile the local (or perhaps national, depending on how "viral" the incident is) bigot contingent yells, "free speech!" the school says, "we can't punish him for something that didn't happen on school property," and the Black kids learn, for the umpteenth time, that Brown V. The Board of Education didn't really change much.

[mtngirl79]

It's because in a lot of those mostly white places with a few token brown people they say they arent racist and accept their few people for diversity and that's all the kids see. They arent racist.

They say, but they are extremely biased under the surface. It's just hidden behind a tight smile and the acceptance of their few brown people that arent like those other brown people...

Any acknowledgement of racist past is ignored because we aren't racist now, and look at these good brown people like us as proof.

At least that is how it was in my rural, conservative little town. We arent racist anymore.

Honestly, there were racial slurs that I didnt understand. People say things and kids repeat them.

[spanghew]

Even educated people have major gaps in their understanding of race in America, and never give a second thought as a result. Somehow I don't buy the argument that forgetting history is a good way to negate all that has come before . . . something seems to be missing from that idea . . . not sure what . . .

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/o...red-1920s.html

[KQ]

True, and particularly so with respect to those signs, which can't even make sense without a carrying racist statement.

I was referring more to black face, which as a cultural phenomenon only carries the meaning it does for those who know about it. (See green face.) So we educate kids about the ugly meanings of racist symbols and in the process preserve their meaning. Not saying ignorance is better, but at some point it should be a goal to look at this historically without piling on the emotional weight that empowers such symbols.

I dunno... I think educating youth on the negative aspects of blackface is along the same lines of teaching them to be polite such as you don't point and stare, you don't ask a person about birthmarks/defects or mention a woman's mustache. In other words you teach children to be respectful and sensitive/empathetic towards others. <shrug>

Honestly, there were racial slurs that I didnt understand. People say things and kids repeat them.

When I was a kid we had a racist version of "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." Just repeating what the older kids taught me until someone told me it was wrong and why.

[Game Over]

Meanwhile Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Virginia AG Mark Herring are still in office.

[iceman]

Northam clearly should still be in office. Clearly. Herring I don't know the deets.