Blackface is ~always~ wrong
Wow, so this thread about a kid coming to school in blackface is an absolute clusterfuck of White Opinions. Also, for the record, calling someone a racist isn't name-calling, or being mean. It's pointing out a fucking fact that you should learn from. I am soooooo tired of people crying over being called racist, like it's ~zomg, the worst thing ever~. Know what's actually bad? THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER FROM YOUR STUPID RACISM.
Horrifying story time: When I was a kid, my ultra-religious parents wouldn't let us do Halloween, so we had to dress as Bible characters and go to some bullshit Harvest Party. One year, they decide that me, my sister and my little brother should go as the 3 men in the fiery furnace (a Bible story from the Book of Daniel.) Their names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedeggo. BUT, my parents dressed my brother up in blackface and called him 'a bad Negro' instead of 'Abedeggo.' I was too young to realize that this was horribly racist, but I wonder what the people at church thought of it...
You know, thinking back, I grew up around a lot of casual racism. I think my family knew that it was wrong, and so it was always spoken in a hushed undertone and a "just between us" nudge, but it was definitely there. Especially about topics like affirmative action and immigration. I'm kinda in the Yo! Is This Racist? school of thought--people have to be called out for this stuff. Its hard to change a racist's mind, but ridicule could sure as shit change their behaviour!