Confused: Blackface Costumes Rile University
Please help me... I am confused. I read this article and I am almost tempted to get pissed, but stopped myself. I am more baffled than anything else. Read, and I will continue my comments...
I am really trying to understand, and I don't. So I did what I usually do in a situation like this, I translate it. I say, "Okay, what if a couple of people dressed up in costumes where that they were gay. How would I feel?"
It would depend! Were they dressing up as gay people to make fun, or because of something else? One student was dressing up as Bob Marley. Should he have done it without the blackpaint??? Wouldn't that be like dressing up as from "Wicked" and not painting your face green? Or to be more appropriate, if I were to dress up as any famous person NOT of my racial color, wouldn't OF COURSE paint my face for that racial group?
I saw people dressed up as Mexican characters this Halloween. Not sure why, but they painted their faces. I didn't see anyone offended.
Maybe there just isn't enough information in this article?
I am confused and would like to get UN-confused. If I am being ignorant, which I have accused people of being, I want to get UN-ignorant.
HOW HOW HOW does 'Blackface "still [say] you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on??"' WHY is it that the student has to "realize [she's] in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate?" WHY isn't it appropriate?
Because the United States used to have slaves?
WHEN can I dress as Bob Marley? Two thousand years from now?
Isn't there a point where WE has individuals MUST take responsibly for our being upset or not upset, offended or not offended?
Not know that I don't like it when my daughter or anyone says, "Oh, that's so gay!" But that is because they are using the word "gay" to mean stupid. "That is so stupid."
Now if she said, "That is SO gay," when she sees a guy in pink walking a pink poodle I would laugh and agree. I tease I guy at work for being "so gay." He goes out of his way to make everyone know, but I ALWAYS make sure to do all buy hug him. He knows I like him. He invited me to his birthday party last night.
A MAJOR thing I had to do in my growth was to learn not to be offended. I can still get offended, but YOU can't offend me. That is all about you. YOU are trying to do something to upset me. That is YOUR trip. If I get offended, then I am taking on something I don't need to take on. I am taking on emotions and stress and head-trips that I don't need to take on. Taking it on only perpetuates problems.
If a gay person got upset over a gay costume that was not meant in bad taste, we would say that gay person has his own internalized homophobia. Maybe I, even today, have a little bit of that for wishing this guy I worked with wouldn't be so flamboyant.
SO, isn't it possible that this student and this teacher of African American Studies has a little internalized self-hatred?
REMEMBER, if you want someone to learn something - in this case me - tell me logically where I am going wrong and why I am being stupid or ignorant. Yelling will only turn me off to what you have to say...
Namasté,
Ben
- Blackface Costumes Rile University
(Nov. 6) -- The pictures shocked the campus -- two students at Northwestern University in Chicago cavorting at a Halloween party in blackface.
The images prompted such an outcry that university officials held a forum on racial issues Thursday. More than 600 students and staff attended, according to The Daily Northwestern, the college's student newspaper.
The controversy began when one student reportedly dressed as Bob Marley by painting his body black and donning a T-shirt that read "Jamaica," NBC Chicago said. Another student appeared as a black woman and carried a tennis racket, the NBC affiliate reported. Their photos appeared on Facebook.
Blackface "still says you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on," Professor Sandra Richards said in The Daily Northwestern. She teaches African-American studies and theater.
Student reactions have been mixed, NBC Chicago said.
"[I] have to realize I'm in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate," student Julia Haskins told the station. While the pictures created a tempest at Northwestern, they didn't violate any campus codes, according to Chicago's WGN.
"The students, using very poor judgment, did not break any rules," a station reporter said, quoting Northwestern officials.
http://news.aol.com/article/blackface-halloween-costumes-rile/756540?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fblackface-halloween-costumes-rile%2F756540
I am really trying to understand, and I don't. So I did what I usually do in a situation like this, I translate it. I say, "Okay, what if a couple of people dressed up in costumes where that they were gay. How would I feel?"
It would depend! Were they dressing up as gay people to make fun, or because of something else? One student was dressing up as Bob Marley. Should he have done it without the blackpaint??? Wouldn't that be like dressing up as from "Wicked" and not painting your face green? Or to be more appropriate, if I were to dress up as any famous person NOT of my racial color, wouldn't OF COURSE paint my face for that racial group?
I saw people dressed up as Mexican characters this Halloween. Not sure why, but they painted their faces. I didn't see anyone offended.
Maybe there just isn't enough information in this article?
I am confused and would like to get UN-confused. If I am being ignorant, which I have accused people of being, I want to get UN-ignorant.
HOW HOW HOW does 'Blackface "still [say] you don’t belong in ways that are echoed throughout our society today, both off-campus and on??"' WHY is it that the student has to "realize [she's] in a place where some people might not understand that something like blackface is not appropriate?" WHY isn't it appropriate?
Because the United States used to have slaves?
WHEN can I dress as Bob Marley? Two thousand years from now?
Isn't there a point where WE has individuals MUST take responsibly for our being upset or not upset, offended or not offended?
Not know that I don't like it when my daughter or anyone says, "Oh, that's so gay!" But that is because they are using the word "gay" to mean stupid. "That is so stupid."
Now if she said, "That is SO gay," when she sees a guy in pink walking a pink poodle I would laugh and agree. I tease I guy at work for being "so gay." He goes out of his way to make everyone know, but I ALWAYS make sure to do all buy hug him. He knows I like him. He invited me to his birthday party last night.
A MAJOR thing I had to do in my growth was to learn not to be offended. I can still get offended, but YOU can't offend me. That is all about you. YOU are trying to do something to upset me. That is YOUR trip. If I get offended, then I am taking on something I don't need to take on. I am taking on emotions and stress and head-trips that I don't need to take on. Taking it on only perpetuates problems.
If a gay person got upset over a gay costume that was not meant in bad taste, we would say that gay person has his own internalized homophobia. Maybe I, even today, have a little bit of that for wishing this guy I worked with wouldn't be so flamboyant.
SO, isn't it possible that this student and this teacher of African American Studies has a little internalized self-hatred?
REMEMBER, if you want someone to learn something - in this case me - tell me logically where I am going wrong and why I am being stupid or ignorant. Yelling will only turn me off to what you have to say...
Namasté,
Ben