2nd-grader Sean King gets in trouble for dressing in blackface as tribute to Martin Luther King Jr

[capitol_barbie]

Controversy erupted at a Colorado elementary school after a student arrived in blackface as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. costume for a class project.

Second-grader Sean King was asked to remove the makeup by officials at Meridian Ranch Elementary chool in Colorado Springs Wednesday, reported KRDO-TV.

Comments

[lickety_split]

Instead of focusing on the child, this article should be about his ignorant ass parents.

[capitol_barbie]

seriously.

[bex]

Yep. This was posted over at Booj and that was the general consensus - don't punish the kid, just explain it to him (GENTLY!) and then wonder wtf the parents were thinking. It can be a teachable moment, but not if you shame the poor boy for something he doesn't even understand.

[ntensity]

Yea I am seriously disappointed that the article entirely glossed over the parents involvement in this. Who bought the makeup? Who applied it? Hey mom and dad, what were YOU thinking?:

[astridmyrna]

“It seems school districts today are just a bit overzealous when it comes to racial correctness. If this young man wasn't disrespecting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or his audience then why would you do something like this?" wrote Bill Stevens Wednesday. "This is what causes racial division in our country today."

It. was. blackface. It's fucking disrespectful. I'm not going to give the kid shit, because he's only 7 and no grown adult ever sat down with him to tell him that, good as his intentions are, black face is racist and disrespectful. All of these adults deserve to have all their gold stickers taken away.

[lickety_split]

Why the hell are we quoting Nobody Bill-fucking-Stevens from Facebook anyway? Let's call Ja Rule while we're at it.

[sobota]

Well to be fair, Ja Rule would have shit to say, right?

[lickety_split]

LOL I where Ja Rule is nowadays...

[akashasheiress]

His parents should know better. I feel bad for the kid. He was probably very confused.

[odette_river]

This.

[tilmon]

The problem here is the teacher. An assignment like this was bound to cause trouble without clearly defined rules regarding the costume. I can't even be mad at the parents being ignorant, either. We know nothing about them, other than that they are white and were seemingly excited about their son's project. If they came out of the same school system, it's no wonder they had no idea they were doing something unacceptable. Schools are always coming up with projects that require parental involvement, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But if they don't give the parents some guidelines, things like this are bound to occur.

[milleniumrex]

This. Be a little sensible and don't assign white kids to cosplay important black figures. It's just asking for trouble.

The kid seems sweet and like he had the best of intentions to honor Dr. King. It's the adults here who dropped the ball on all levels, the teacher more so than the parents.

[ceilidh]

The school I used to teach at did a "wax museum" with fifth graders and they chose a person from the time period they studied in fifth grade and dressed as them, did a report and a poster, and stood in different places in the cafeteria and parents walked around as students talked about the person they chose. But the teachers *specifically* said not to paint faces and told them they were limited to clothing and accessories (for example, a kid dressed as Louis Armstrong wore a suit and borrowed his cousin's trumpet to carry around). Plus they had a poster with pictures right there with them so it was blatantly obvious who they were portraying even if they were limited in what they could use, dress-up wise

[theplanfailed]

I agree with this. The teacher should have been more clear on the rules.

[theplanfailed]

Coming from Someone who cosplay's. I don't see why it's so offensive. The school, should have kept the racial issue in mond and assign historical figures according g to skin color. that way they could have avoided this. And seeing as how no one set down clear rules, I don't blame the parents. It makes sense. After all, Hannibal In The A-Team put on black paint in the Las Vegas episode in season 1. And as far as I know, no one cares. This is just stupid. I blame the school for not thinking about this in the first place. After all. When one cosplay's, accuracy is mostly what is gone for. And the kid obviously wanted to do it right, and he isn't black.

Yeah. I blame the school. They're a bunch of idiots.

[lone_concertina]

If you assign research projects based on race you keep white kids from learning about minority contributions entirely since they're rarely covered in textbooks anyway.

[theplanfailed]

I learned about MLK and other figures who weren't white. I think most,y because I was home schooled and loved history.
It isn't the best idea in the world. I agree. Only, I think the school should have done a bit more planning.

[whatyouthinkiam]

IAWTC. So much this.