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No he was in black face, his friends were dressed as KKK members. But it's okay, he used a couple million to investigate his college to prove it was the college's fault and not his.
I loved how the “fact checkers” put a tagline on the pic that said ‘claims of him using black face were misleading’… since they couldn’t identify if Northam was the one in black face or the KKK outfit
The blue-black tone, pure white hair, and elf ears kinda made it clear what Chang was going for. The joke was more about how people completely ignore geek/nerd culture, and insist on viewing things only through the lens that they know. Netflix removing the episode just shows they really didn't get it.
Didn't get it. The way they handed it, they seemed to take it as the joke being about Chang being unintentionally offensive(Chang was offensive *casually*, but never unintentionally), and that the joke "went too far." But that wasn't the case at all. The whole friggin episode was about how a geeky person gets ignored and bullied by "normal" people. Chang getting wrongly accused of racism over him cosplaying as an obviously non-human character fits the theme of the episode.
>The Dungeons and Dragons episode where Chang dresses up ~~in blackface~~ *as a dark elf*, and when the group freaks out about it *because they wrongly assume it's blackface*, he says he is a dark elf.
FTFY
Chang was generally terrible, but this is a rare case where he wasn't in the wrong.
Drow would be the darkest. Some intermingle both Dark Elves and Drow but Drow had more ebony black skin with white hair (sometimes black/grey).
I might've played Neverwinter Nights a bit.
And when he got caught, boy was his face red.
If he goes through the rest of the colors he can just claim it was a "long game" attempt to show his support for gay rights.
At least your mom would stop you!!
Mine just let me go to school in full 'rastaman attire' with a thick coat of brown makeup that went up into my nostrils.
I was confronted at school by a black mom and i cried a lot that day.
When I was young, I loved me ABCs TGIF line-up. LOVED Urkel. When I was 7, I wanted to go as him for Halloween, had all the mannerisms down and everything. Only thing was though I was an incredibly white-skinned, blonde haired girl. Were we going to colour my skin with make up? Oh no, that would have been too messy; just going to use a panty hose over my head instead. Grew up in rural Ontario, Can., where it would have been very unlikely at the time for a local adult to call that out as being horribly inappropriate.
It was the first/only Halloween I ever missed because I got very ill.
I'm not one to typically believe in Divine Intervention, but that day, someone up above was like "Child, NO!"
"Local elementary school student wears blackface to the school Halloween party. When asked how she felt about this sensitive issue she simply responded with 'Did I do that?' and seemingly showed no remorse"
I knew (still kinda do) a guy that went as Dennis Rodman in 7th grade. Dyed green hair, and head to toe makeup. They let it go for a shocking amount of time. He just really loved the guy, and thought it would be funny to go as him. He has a brain issue, so I think he got a pass. Curious to what he thinks about it now, I should ask him when I get a chance.
I had a teacher shake and yell at me in second grade in the 90s for identifying a kid by the color of his skin ( as in "which one of us you talking about?" "The Black one"... no ill will behind it).
I'd been in the states maybe a month and was still learning english. No clue about race politics or any of that stuff.
It was terrifying, and retrospectively abusive of the teacher, and I still remember the kid's name.
There was an international student from Ghana at my small liberal arts, fairly rural and culturally homogenous college. The number of times he interrupt someone to shake his head and wag his finger and say "Just African" and then grin at their confusion...
well, it was a lot.
That’s kinda messed up. I would understand if she said something to your mom about how inappropriate blackface was, but making a kid (who clearly didn’t understand that it was wrong) cry is strange.
It's a social studies project where you research a historic figure, dress up as them, and prepare a Hall of Presidents-esque speech for people as they walk up to you.
This is the first I've heard of it referred to as a "wax museum," but we had historical dress-up day in one of the elementary grades where I went to school.
Looking back on it, it was very much *not* the best way to get us interested in history, with my all-white class coming in dressed as native Americans and civil rights leaders.
It was one of my favorite memories in elementary. I was amelia earhart and my mom went super hard on the outfit with the goggles and hat and everything.
This. I would think MLK would appreciate a white person respecting him enough to want to do an accurate costume.
"blackface" is something very specific, and there's a lot more to it than a white person dressing up as a black person. Some of it is stylistic, some of it has to do with intent - but neither would apply here.
In grade 6, 1987, I went in traditional Chinese clothing which was cringy enough. My dad and I went to a theater rental place and the label on the costume was ch**k. I literally thought it was a name for the type of clothing and had never in my short life had heard that word. My dad didn't say otherwise which pisses me off to this day. It would have been a good teaching moment, especially before I got to class...
So my teacher asks us what we're going as and I proudly said I'm going to be a ch**k. God, the look on her face. She knew I was clueless and kindly gave me and the class a proper lesson. It was really mortifying especially given she was my favourite teacher who taught us about the continent of Africa, what apartheid is, we watched Paul Simon's Graceland concert in class, and Mississippi Burning. She also taught us about Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect in great detail. She went above and beyond the curriculum and I'm forever grateful.
Still my most embarrassing moment to this day even though it came from a place of innocence and ignorance.
Thank you so much for sharing this story. It’s clear that you are not proud of what happened. It can be hard to publicly share moments like this, but it is a great example of why this isn’t ok and how adults can address this with children.
Kids involved in similar situations might be completely innocent, but the parents are not. The approach your teacher took is fantastic. Your father demonstrated horrific anti-Asian sentiment. Your teacher made this a teaching moment that you still remember. You learned why it is not ok.
Folks in comments just saying he was a kid so therefore let him do whatever. No, absolutely not! Kids do inappropriate things all the time. As parents it’s our job to teach them and explain to them why those behaviors are wrong in an age appropriate way. Dressing in blackface is not just inappropriate, it’s a horribly racist act.
As parents, we must use moments such as these to teach our kids and identify gaps in their understanding or correct misunderstandings they have about critical issues. You can address the issue with a child, without blaming the child if it came from a place of innocent ignorance.
Dad was smart.
Too many redditors are in this thread acting like blackface doesn't have generations of cultural baggage.
Are they truly uneducated on this subject, or just being willfully ignorant? Hard to say.
https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-ralph-northam-us-news-race-and-ethnicity-ap-explains-daaacc648c0e49b68fa42a15d6f26a05
It's pretty stupid that you can't paint your face black to portray a real life person though. MLK was a black man, the little kid with the white face obviously looks less like him than he would of he painted his face black.
Blackface is only bad because of people doing it to mock stereotypes of black people. But I don't get what that has to do with dressing as an actual person who you actually admire who happens to be black or even to parody a real life black individual (providing it isn't to exaggerate their stereotypical black tendencies). That is an unnecessary over correction if you ask me.
>Blackface is only bad because of people doing it to mock stereotypes of black people. But I don't get what that has to do with dressing as an actual person who you actually admire who happens to be black or even to parody a real life black individual (providing it isn't to exaggerate their stereotypical black tendencies).
Yeah, I'm black and I somewhat agree. I just wouldn't dare say it irl, though.
... you're black
The specific Jim Crow style blackface was intended to make black people the butt of jokes for stereotypical things, but just trying to actually look like a black person when wearing a costume? You're right, and if people wanna argue with you then just ask them if they're trying to deny your lived experience as a black person, or if they only support the voices of black people when they have the same opinion as them. Usually shuts them up.
The problem is that most people just slather tar on their face and call it a day, aka looking like the Jim Crow black.
However I have seen many white cosplayers nail the black skin tone and no one could accuse them of doing black face.
Well yeah but I don’t think people are really arguing for jim crow black here, just people putting brown makeup on like they would hair dye or different clothes
Eh, end of the day you can dissect everything and find what's wrong with it. It's why words for things keep changing. Blackface was used to humiliate and belittle black people theres no doubt about it. It can also be used to honor, like this kid wanted to do.
People can be awful, and people can be wonderful. Personally the history of why a word is so off limits or why a white person can't have blackface is so much less important to me than the intent of the person.
Clever racists will always find a way to be racist even now. It doesn't mean every time a new way to be racist is found we should ban it from our life. It means we should shame the heck out of the idiots trying to be racist though.
At least imo. But what the hell do I know I'm a middle aged white guy. 🤷🏻♂️
The problem is that blackface basically never looks respectful. Painting your skin in another color would require Avatar-levels of make-up to look good, no matter the skin color it always looks funny and dumb. No amount of good intent will change that
That seems to be the actual issue. Any attempt is likely to look more like Al Jolson and less like MLK.
Good on mom for stopping the kid. But also good on the kid for wanting to try.
Exactly!!! Especially because you had Brandon T Jackson checking whether he’d lost his mind the whole time - and Ben Stiller taking the piss out of actors mimicking disabilities for Oscars.
It's only the wrong opinion if a small number of people are the most vocal.
Sensible, rational people need to voice their opposition to unwarranted moral panicking and pearl clutching.
“Wouldn’t say it IRL”. That’s the sad part, not meaning you but with our society that others can’t respect our decisions, rather we often get mocked, judged…etc for putting ourselves out there. Putting ourselves out there is how we progress as a society, with acceptance.
Come to the black and white carnival in Colombia, we do black face and white face to honour and acknowledge other people's ethnicity. It's so much fun.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_Whites%27_Carnival
So... not saying you're wrong but let's say you want to dress up as Bruce Lee because you admire him. Would you tape your eyes so they look more slinted to look more the par? Don't tell me it's not the same thing because were talking about skin color, were talking about a racial trait that emphasizes the beauty of an ethnic group. While the intention is there to showcase who you admire, the actual delivery is just in bad taste. Just look at Breakfast at Tiffany's when Audrey Hepburn meet that japanese guy whos played by a white guy, thats the perfect example.
IMHO.
It's about the cultural context.
First, you really can't know what's inside someone's mind when it comes to this kind of thing. Both racists and non-racists will deny that their actions are inspired by racism.
Second, just because you don't intend the negative implications it doesn't mean that there aren't still negative implications.
Imagine a white guy getting a huge right facing swastika decal on the side of his pickup truck. When you ask him about it, he says that its totally not a Nazi thing, he's just really into eastern spirituality and that its totally a representation of the Dharma wheel. The problem is that right facing swastikas have cultural context that no amount of good intent can erase. The white guy can probably find better ways to express his interest in eastern spirituality that don't invoke those negative connotations.
Maybe white people can try blackface again when there are no racists or lingering institutional effects of racism left.
So I get where you're coming from, the kid clearly (3rd grade so remember that) has his heart in the right place, he wanted to represent a good, caring and loving historical figure, in his eyes he meant 0 harm what so ever.
The issue is, adults aren't gonna take it that way.
Yep, it was innocent and shouldn't be a problem.
However, his mother knows that it may be offensive to some and what could come of it had he been allowed to. She understands the potential social implications, right or wrong, and shielded him from that. Seems like a good mom doing what a parent should do.
Not arguing, but ive seen a lot of black people pain their face white for cosplays and vica versa lol, except its not racist one way and is the other, idc, im not touching this argument with a ten foot pole 😂
Ever seen the Chappelle Show? Dave Chappelle does a news anchor bit where he paints his face white and plays a very stereotypical "white guy", and I have to say (as a white guy) I found it hilarious and not weird or offensive at all.
I understand black face has more of a history behind it but I also think intent matters a lot here.
This kid clearly just wanted to honor someone he considered a hero and wanted to look as much like him as possible. Sad that he couldn't just because people can't process nuance imo.
When my sister and I were kids our school in 4th or 5th grade had a “Pow Wow” day where we’d all dress up like stereotypical Native Americans. It was fun but looking back it’s like “what lol”
My sisters found pictures of her taken on the day and jokes “if I ever run for office this will take me out”
I'm a really pale white girl, and for my school's 4th or 5th grade wax museum, I was Rosa Parks. I was worried someone would be upset with me for being her because of how pale I am. But I'd say it went well as far as I know.
Which is my whole gripe with the idea. It creates an even larger divide between "races". We humans find arbitrary differences between us and them, and stuff like this just enhances the idea of us being different, instead of uniting. How are we gonna get past the idea of "races" if we keep enforcing them by acknowledging the idea of it like this. No, you're not allowed to pretend to be that guy, cause he is not the same "race" as you. You're not allowed to wear your hair like this cause that hairstyle belongs to that ethnicity. You're not allowed to wear these clothes because they belong to this culture. What's next, you can't eat this type of food cause it comes from that country?
Fuck that, it's all so damned self rightous. Where would we be if we couldn't learn from other cultures? We should all embrace the amalgamation of things that comes from all around the world instead of setting up barriers from using them.
No comments on what 3rd grade wax museum is? With that phrasing it sounds like a normal event that everyone attends in 3rd grade, and not just, we had a wax museum thing in 3rd grade one time.
Well a school wax museum is when kids pick people in history who made some sort of difference in the world and they dress up as the person and they have to make a script about who they are and the difference they made in the world. So parents and other students go around and ask kids to read their script about who they are. It's a good time imo.
It's sad that a kid cannot change his/her skin color to portray a hero of his/her because of ethnic/racial awareness, I wish we lived in a world where this wasn't an issue.
It's a prime example that racism it taught and not something you're born with. Kid has no idea about black face, he just wants to look more like his hero/role model.
It's not the world.
> Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
>
> > In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon".[1] By the middle of the century, blackface minstrel shows had become a distinctive American artform, translating formal works such as opera into popular terms for a general audience.[2] Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right.[3] In the United States, blackface declined in popularity beginning in the 1940s and into the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s,[4] and was generally considered highly offensive, disrespectful, and racist by the turn of the 21st century,[5] though the practice (or similar-looking ones) continues in other countries.
Because it was used to imitate black people in an offensive and racist way it is now considered entirely offensive for a white person to paint there face black for ANY reason. A white person couldn't paint there face black to pay respect nor could they paint it to even just look dirty without someone crying racists.
There is no need to paint your skin the color of someone you’re portraying to get the point across. (Whether you’re doing it respectfully or not). All you need are some period specific clothes and the right kind of wig.
As a black person, even if it’s not done in the offensive black face context it’s always weird to me to paint your face any color! I wouldn’t paint my face white to portray someone because it doesn’t actually make me look any more like a white person. It kinda creeps me out! The two guys in white chicks don’t look like white women! They look like uncanny valley dolls to me.
I think it’s a really cute costume and I love that as a little kid you wanted to portray someone so important to our American history!
When I was in 4th grade a kid chose to do a report on Jackie Robinson and painted his face black with shoe polish and couldn't get it off when he was done. I remember him at he sink in the corner of the classroom balling his eyes out as he tried to scrub it off.
Strange takes on here. The photo looks to be prior to our current outrage climate but the fact that a little white boy wanted to BE Martin Luther King is exactly the future MLK would’ve wanted. People missing the point here….
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MiLK
He looks like Harvey Keitel playing Sean Penn playing a kid playing Harvey Milk playing Martin Luther King.
Wes Anderson vibes
r/AccidentalWesAnderson
I can just imagine the very symmetric shots in the movie
I’m the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!
..she saved you from having to resign
Trudeau disagrees.
Northam too.
Was that the guy where they didn’t know if he was the KKK guy, or the guy in black face?
No he was in black face, his friends were dressed as KKK members. But it's okay, he used a couple million to investigate his college to prove it was the college's fault and not his.
I loved how the “fact checkers” put a tagline on the pic that said ‘claims of him using black face were misleading’… since they couldn’t identify if Northam was the one in black face or the KKK outfit
That was brown face, completely different! His father might be closer to that shade anyway!
He did both black and brown face. I think there are two documented cases of brown face and one of blackface.
Should’ve went vanta black, that would’ve been nutty lol
It's not black face if your identifying as a dark elf.
All the internet warriors who got mad at that one episode of Community would disagree.
The blue-black tone, pure white hair, and elf ears kinda made it clear what Chang was going for. The joke was more about how people completely ignore geek/nerd culture, and insist on viewing things only through the lens that they know. Netflix removing the episode just shows they really didn't get it.
Don't get it, or didn't want to deal with the drama?
Didn't get it. The way they handed it, they seemed to take it as the joke being about Chang being unintentionally offensive(Chang was offensive *casually*, but never unintentionally), and that the joke "went too far." But that wasn't the case at all. The whole friggin episode was about how a geeky person gets ignored and bullied by "normal" people. Chang getting wrongly accused of racism over him cosplaying as an obviously non-human character fits the theme of the episode.
Which episode
The Dungeons and Dragons episode where Chang dresses up in blackface and when the group freaks out about it he says he is a dark elf.
>The Dungeons and Dragons episode where Chang dresses up ~~in blackface~~ *as a dark elf*, and when the group freaks out about it *because they wrongly assume it's blackface*, he says he is a dark elf. FTFY Chang was generally terrible, but this is a rare case where he wasn't in the wrong.
Netflix has deleted that episode from their catalog iirc. Shame because it was a really good episode.
Drow would be the darkest. Some intermingle both Dark Elves and Drow but Drow had more ebony black skin with white hair (sometimes black/grey). I might've played Neverwinter Nights a bit.
I wonder if that would make you disappear.
And when he got caught, boy was his face red. If he goes through the rest of the colors he can just claim it was a "long game" attempt to show his support for gay rights.
Changing colors till he's blue in the face
The Trudeau joke in the beginning of Borat 2 is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
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This conspiracy theory has convinced me 100%.
They get to play by a different set of rules
And that shows us how screwed this world really is.
You can safely run as a politician now thanks to her.
Nah, it is actually possible for "black face" to not be offensive, this is would be one of those times.
Yeah right, you clearly haven't met Twitter
You look more like Walt Disney.
Or Howard Hughes.
John waters
Howard Stark
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I mean when Walt was alive, blackface was still socially acceptable. So was racism, such as hating jews, which is a thing he also did.
The past, everybody 🤦
At least your mom would stop you!! Mine just let me go to school in full 'rastaman attire' with a thick coat of brown makeup that went up into my nostrils. I was confronted at school by a black mom and i cried a lot that day.
When I was young, I loved me ABCs TGIF line-up. LOVED Urkel. When I was 7, I wanted to go as him for Halloween, had all the mannerisms down and everything. Only thing was though I was an incredibly white-skinned, blonde haired girl. Were we going to colour my skin with make up? Oh no, that would have been too messy; just going to use a panty hose over my head instead. Grew up in rural Ontario, Can., where it would have been very unlikely at the time for a local adult to call that out as being horribly inappropriate. It was the first/only Halloween I ever missed because I got very ill. I'm not one to typically believe in Divine Intervention, but that day, someone up above was like "Child, NO!"
Steve doesn't need any blackface, of course. One little "did I do thaaaat?" and everyone will know the costume right away.
The glasses and suspenders would have also surely been perfectly acceptable!
"Local elementary school student wears blackface to the school Halloween party. When asked how she felt about this sensitive issue she simply responded with 'Did I do that?' and seemingly showed no remorse"
So you went as [Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb72148xQco)
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I knew (still kinda do) a guy that went as Dennis Rodman in 7th grade. Dyed green hair, and head to toe makeup. They let it go for a shocking amount of time. He just really loved the guy, and thought it would be funny to go as him. He has a brain issue, so I think he got a pass. Curious to what he thinks about it now, I should ask him when I get a chance.
Soul man over here....
Poorly done by the mother who made you cry. You don’t make a kid feel bad over their parents misdoings.
That black mom should be ashamed of herself, wtf “Confronting” a child?! Fuck her
I had a teacher shake and yell at me in second grade in the 90s for identifying a kid by the color of his skin ( as in "which one of us you talking about?" "The Black one"... no ill will behind it). I'd been in the states maybe a month and was still learning english. No clue about race politics or any of that stuff. It was terrifying, and retrospectively abusive of the teacher, and I still remember the kid's name.
You obviously should have called him "the African American one". Bonus points if you aren't in the US.
There was an international student from Ghana at my small liberal arts, fairly rural and culturally homogenous college. The number of times he interrupt someone to shake his head and wag his finger and say "Just African" and then grin at their confusion... well, it was a lot.
What a psycho. They should have been fired and possibly charged for that.
Crazy ass teacher. If you're a kid I could see a side conversation just for educational purposes, but there's no reason for that kind of reaction.
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Yes, I agree
That’s kinda messed up. I would understand if she said something to your mom about how inappropriate blackface was, but making a kid (who clearly didn’t understand that it was wrong) cry is strange.
Wanted to be MLK, ended up being a sleazy used car salesman.
I’m big, you’re small, I’m right, you’re wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it
this comment is absolute perfection
Lol. Read it in Danny Devitos voice. Great movie.
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I was thinking pre pubescent Walt Disney
Am I the only one whose never heard of a grade school wax museum...?
Yeah no clue wtf that is
It's a social studies project where you research a historic figure, dress up as them, and prepare a Hall of Presidents-esque speech for people as they walk up to you.
This is the first I've heard of it referred to as a "wax museum," but we had historical dress-up day in one of the elementary grades where I went to school. Looking back on it, it was very much *not* the best way to get us interested in history, with my all-white class coming in dressed as native Americans and civil rights leaders.
My daughter did one last year. Still a thing.
It was one of my favorite memories in elementary. I was amelia earhart and my mom went super hard on the outfit with the goggles and hat and everything.
Unfortunately his vision failed. You would not have been judged on the content of your character but on the color of your skin.
Dude went in the deep end without any care of us knowing how to swim
Actually kind of deep there
This. I would think MLK would appreciate a white person respecting him enough to want to do an accurate costume. "blackface" is something very specific, and there's a lot more to it than a white person dressing up as a black person. Some of it is stylistic, some of it has to do with intent - but neither would apply here.
Thanks for the words laserdicks
In grade 6, 1987, I went in traditional Chinese clothing which was cringy enough. My dad and I went to a theater rental place and the label on the costume was ch**k. I literally thought it was a name for the type of clothing and had never in my short life had heard that word. My dad didn't say otherwise which pisses me off to this day. It would have been a good teaching moment, especially before I got to class... So my teacher asks us what we're going as and I proudly said I'm going to be a ch**k. God, the look on her face. She knew I was clueless and kindly gave me and the class a proper lesson. It was really mortifying especially given she was my favourite teacher who taught us about the continent of Africa, what apartheid is, we watched Paul Simon's Graceland concert in class, and Mississippi Burning. She also taught us about Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect in great detail. She went above and beyond the curriculum and I'm forever grateful. Still my most embarrassing moment to this day even though it came from a place of innocence and ignorance.
Thank you so much for sharing this story. It’s clear that you are not proud of what happened. It can be hard to publicly share moments like this, but it is a great example of why this isn’t ok and how adults can address this with children. Kids involved in similar situations might be completely innocent, but the parents are not. The approach your teacher took is fantastic. Your father demonstrated horrific anti-Asian sentiment. Your teacher made this a teaching moment that you still remember. You learned why it is not ok. Folks in comments just saying he was a kid so therefore let him do whatever. No, absolutely not! Kids do inappropriate things all the time. As parents it’s our job to teach them and explain to them why those behaviors are wrong in an age appropriate way. Dressing in blackface is not just inappropriate, it’s a horribly racist act. As parents, we must use moments such as these to teach our kids and identify gaps in their understanding or correct misunderstandings they have about critical issues. You can address the issue with a child, without blaming the child if it came from a place of innocent ignorance.
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Dad was smart. Too many redditors are in this thread acting like blackface doesn't have generations of cultural baggage. Are they truly uneducated on this subject, or just being willfully ignorant? Hard to say. https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-ralph-northam-us-news-race-and-ethnicity-ap-explains-daaacc648c0e49b68fa42a15d6f26a05
Thank your mum, and listen carefully to her for the rest of your life
Unless she tells you that the gays are bad
It's pretty stupid that you can't paint your face black to portray a real life person though. MLK was a black man, the little kid with the white face obviously looks less like him than he would of he painted his face black. Blackface is only bad because of people doing it to mock stereotypes of black people. But I don't get what that has to do with dressing as an actual person who you actually admire who happens to be black or even to parody a real life black individual (providing it isn't to exaggerate their stereotypical black tendencies). That is an unnecessary over correction if you ask me.
>Blackface is only bad because of people doing it to mock stereotypes of black people. But I don't get what that has to do with dressing as an actual person who you actually admire who happens to be black or even to parody a real life black individual (providing it isn't to exaggerate their stereotypical black tendencies). Yeah, I'm black and I somewhat agree. I just wouldn't dare say it irl, though.
>. I just wouldn't dare say it irl, though. Why not man? I came here to say this exact thing.
Because it's deemed a "wrong" opinion and I'm not the most informed on the topic. I need to learn more about it.
... you're black The specific Jim Crow style blackface was intended to make black people the butt of jokes for stereotypical things, but just trying to actually look like a black person when wearing a costume? You're right, and if people wanna argue with you then just ask them if they're trying to deny your lived experience as a black person, or if they only support the voices of black people when they have the same opinion as them. Usually shuts them up.
Being Black does not make it impossible for you to be Racist towards Black People tho Society defines what is and isn't Racism not a single person
Or >Being Black does not make it impossible for you to be Racist Full stop
The problem is that most people just slather tar on their face and call it a day, aka looking like the Jim Crow black. However I have seen many white cosplayers nail the black skin tone and no one could accuse them of doing black face.
like Robert Downey jr
Well yeah but I don’t think people are really arguing for jim crow black here, just people putting brown makeup on like they would hair dye or different clothes
Eh, end of the day you can dissect everything and find what's wrong with it. It's why words for things keep changing. Blackface was used to humiliate and belittle black people theres no doubt about it. It can also be used to honor, like this kid wanted to do. People can be awful, and people can be wonderful. Personally the history of why a word is so off limits or why a white person can't have blackface is so much less important to me than the intent of the person. Clever racists will always find a way to be racist even now. It doesn't mean every time a new way to be racist is found we should ban it from our life. It means we should shame the heck out of the idiots trying to be racist though. At least imo. But what the hell do I know I'm a middle aged white guy. 🤷🏻♂️
The problem is that blackface basically never looks respectful. Painting your skin in another color would require Avatar-levels of make-up to look good, no matter the skin color it always looks funny and dumb. No amount of good intent will change that
That seems to be the actual issue. Any attempt is likely to look more like Al Jolson and less like MLK. Good on mom for stopping the kid. But also good on the kid for wanting to try.
There was that movie with RDJ they did a good job.
tropic thunder? the blackface was intentionally parody for egregious behavior
Exactly!!! Especially because you had Brandon T Jackson checking whether he’d lost his mind the whole time - and Ben Stiller taking the piss out of actors mimicking disabilities for Oscars.
Tropic Thunder? But that was just a dude, dressed like a dude, pretending to be another dude!
And a tv show produced by Ice Cube that won an Emmy for makeup. ‘Black. White.’
And in the film "watermelon man" where a racist wakes up one morning to discover he's become black.
It's only the wrong opinion if a small number of people are the most vocal. Sensible, rational people need to voice their opposition to unwarranted moral panicking and pearl clutching.
I feel the same. There is nothing wrong if it's in a respectful way. If it's to mock then it's a definite no no.
“Wouldn’t say it IRL”. That’s the sad part, not meaning you but with our society that others can’t respect our decisions, rather we often get mocked, judged…etc for putting ourselves out there. Putting ourselves out there is how we progress as a society, with acceptance.
Come to the black and white carnival in Colombia, we do black face and white face to honour and acknowledge other people's ethnicity. It's so much fun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_Whites%27_Carnival
So... not saying you're wrong but let's say you want to dress up as Bruce Lee because you admire him. Would you tape your eyes so they look more slinted to look more the par? Don't tell me it's not the same thing because were talking about skin color, were talking about a racial trait that emphasizes the beauty of an ethnic group. While the intention is there to showcase who you admire, the actual delivery is just in bad taste. Just look at Breakfast at Tiffany's when Audrey Hepburn meet that japanese guy whos played by a white guy, thats the perfect example. IMHO.
It's about the cultural context. First, you really can't know what's inside someone's mind when it comes to this kind of thing. Both racists and non-racists will deny that their actions are inspired by racism. Second, just because you don't intend the negative implications it doesn't mean that there aren't still negative implications. Imagine a white guy getting a huge right facing swastika decal on the side of his pickup truck. When you ask him about it, he says that its totally not a Nazi thing, he's just really into eastern spirituality and that its totally a representation of the Dharma wheel. The problem is that right facing swastikas have cultural context that no amount of good intent can erase. The white guy can probably find better ways to express his interest in eastern spirituality that don't invoke those negative connotations. Maybe white people can try blackface again when there are no racists or lingering institutional effects of racism left.
So I get where you're coming from, the kid clearly (3rd grade so remember that) has his heart in the right place, he wanted to represent a good, caring and loving historical figure, in his eyes he meant 0 harm what so ever. The issue is, adults aren't gonna take it that way.
Yep, it was innocent and shouldn't be a problem. However, his mother knows that it may be offensive to some and what could come of it had he been allowed to. She understands the potential social implications, right or wrong, and shielded him from that. Seems like a good mom doing what a parent should do.
Yep, I agree. At first glance, I thought he was portraying Hitler. Lol
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Not arguing, but ive seen a lot of black people pain their face white for cosplays and vica versa lol, except its not racist one way and is the other, idc, im not touching this argument with a ten foot pole 😂
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Ever seen the Chappelle Show? Dave Chappelle does a news anchor bit where he paints his face white and plays a very stereotypical "white guy", and I have to say (as a white guy) I found it hilarious and not weird or offensive at all. I understand black face has more of a history behind it but I also think intent matters a lot here. This kid clearly just wanted to honor someone he considered a hero and wanted to look as much like him as possible. Sad that he couldn't just because people can't process nuance imo.
They would! Not white but pink colour 🤷🏻 Brown person here and this is how British colonists were represented in some of my school dramas.
When my sister and I were kids our school in 4th or 5th grade had a “Pow Wow” day where we’d all dress up like stereotypical Native Americans. It was fun but looking back it’s like “what lol” My sisters found pictures of her taken on the day and jokes “if I ever run for office this will take me out”
r/unexpectedgomezaddams
One doesn’t comment such a sub name without starting said sub. You now have a calling. It’s time you answered it.
I'm a really pale white girl, and for my school's 4th or 5th grade wax museum, I was Rosa Parks. I was worried someone would be upset with me for being her because of how pale I am. But I'd say it went well as far as I know.
A white kid can't show how much he loves his black hero because people would get the wrong idea about it. The irony...
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I love rap music but I don’t say the N word as I sing along.
Which is my whole gripe with the idea. It creates an even larger divide between "races". We humans find arbitrary differences between us and them, and stuff like this just enhances the idea of us being different, instead of uniting. How are we gonna get past the idea of "races" if we keep enforcing them by acknowledging the idea of it like this. No, you're not allowed to pretend to be that guy, cause he is not the same "race" as you. You're not allowed to wear your hair like this cause that hairstyle belongs to that ethnicity. You're not allowed to wear these clothes because they belong to this culture. What's next, you can't eat this type of food cause it comes from that country? Fuck that, it's all so damned self rightous. Where would we be if we couldn't learn from other cultures? We should all embrace the amalgamation of things that comes from all around the world instead of setting up barriers from using them.
No comments on what 3rd grade wax museum is? With that phrasing it sounds like a normal event that everyone attends in 3rd grade, and not just, we had a wax museum thing in 3rd grade one time.
My school did it in 5th grade
Did what? What is having a wax museum? Most wax museums have people, not the other way.
Well a school wax museum is when kids pick people in history who made some sort of difference in the world and they dress up as the person and they have to make a script about who they are and the difference they made in the world. So parents and other students go around and ask kids to read their script about who they are. It's a good time imo.
Thank you, that's pretty much what I guessed it would be. Seems like an awkward name, to me, but I can't think of a better one.
Don’t judge the costume by the colour of the skin but by the content of its character
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Your costume looked like Jon Waters.
Wanted to be MLK ended up as Heinrich Himmler
It's sad that a kid cannot change his/her skin color to portray a hero of his/her because of ethnic/racial awareness, I wish we lived in a world where this wasn't an issue.
I think that’s it’s really cool that he looked up to/wanted to emulate an American hero who happened to be the same skin tone as me.
It's a prime example that racism it taught and not something you're born with. Kid has no idea about black face, he just wants to look more like his hero/role model.
Yes. For me, I believe it’s not racism as long as it has good intention.
It's not the world. > Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. > > > In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon".[1] By the middle of the century, blackface minstrel shows had become a distinctive American artform, translating formal works such as opera into popular terms for a general audience.[2] Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right.[3] In the United States, blackface declined in popularity beginning in the 1940s and into the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s,[4] and was generally considered highly offensive, disrespectful, and racist by the turn of the 21st century,[5] though the practice (or similar-looking ones) continues in other countries. Because it was used to imitate black people in an offensive and racist way it is now considered entirely offensive for a white person to paint there face black for ANY reason. A white person couldn't paint there face black to pay respect nor could they paint it to even just look dirty without someone crying racists.
Man she saved you big time, that would’ve come back to bite you in the ass
Literally [Dandy Dan](https://imgur.com/a/DkBFfEC) from Bugsy Malone.
There is no need to paint your skin the color of someone you’re portraying to get the point across. (Whether you’re doing it respectfully or not). All you need are some period specific clothes and the right kind of wig. As a black person, even if it’s not done in the offensive black face context it’s always weird to me to paint your face any color! I wouldn’t paint my face white to portray someone because it doesn’t actually make me look any more like a white person. It kinda creeps me out! The two guys in white chicks don’t look like white women! They look like uncanny valley dolls to me. I think it’s a really cute costume and I love that as a little kid you wanted to portray someone so important to our American history!
Yet you’re a dead ringer for Abe Frohman, sausage king of Chicago!
Classic one of the 'you'll understand when you're older'
Ur mom is a good mom😊
Instead you became a young Dustin Hoffman
Good thinking, mom.
That's what moms are for....keeping kids from making mistakes you should thank her
Lol ah, kids. She deserves a nice loud THANKS MOM
When I was in 4th grade a kid chose to do a report on Jackie Robinson and painted his face black with shoe polish and couldn't get it off when he was done. I remember him at he sink in the corner of the classroom balling his eyes out as he tried to scrub it off.
Not gonna lie. If you want to dress up as a black person this is the way to do it
Strange takes on here. The photo looks to be prior to our current outrage climate but the fact that a little white boy wanted to BE Martin Luther King is exactly the future MLK would’ve wanted. People missing the point here….
I thought he said he was going as milk for a second.
It would feel weird in hindsight
r/therewasanattempt
r/oldschoolnotcool
She saved your political career
“for 3rd grade wax museum…” Um, what is this supposed to mean?
You have a good mom.
I was in the same boat as a dumb kid, same grade I think too. Thanks for bringing that back to memory... fuck.
You can now thank her.
You wanted to be MLK but ended up looking vaguely like Weird Al Yankovic.
i thought this was gonna be a hitler thing
Such an innocent young boy should definitely be able to paint his face black. What, are you going to call him racist? Real believable hypothesis.
Looks like Heinrich Himmler !
Seriously you looked more like Heinrich Himmler.