"Blackface" Discussion

It’s simple human psychology really. People don’t see the harm in the situation, but they don’t want to see themselves as being racist/ignorant. Instead they try to validate it.

Not sure what you’re trying to say here?
There’s plenty of people who see the harm in it and have the historical evidence to back it up.

It seems like the people who don’t see the harm are the ones telling us that there’s nothing wrong with it.
 
Not sure what you’re trying to say here?
There’s plenty of people who see the harm in it and have the historical evidence to back it up.

It seems like the people who don’t see the harm are the ones telling us that there’s nothing wrong with it.
Yeah, I am referring to the people who don’t see the harm in the situation. I shuld have said “some people”...
 
From what I can see the only people of colour who don’t have a problem with this in this thread are @Epicurean and @kouroux
And I’m not sure if they’re black.

A few pages back, I and a few other black posters have outlined why his decision to paint his skin black is offensive - doesn’t mean I’m offended, but don’t wear my skin colour as if it’s a costume that you can wipe off.

I said a number of pages back that not every black person will find this offensive (newsflash black people are individual with our own unique thoughts and opinions. We are - wait for it - human) but just because there are black people who don’t have a problem with this, or you know a few black mates who whitened up, doesn’t make this incident not ignorant and offensive.

Why is that so difficult to understand?

Really? People dress up as characters from other races all the time. You don't have to paint your face to make the costume look good.

I'm pretty sure most people are smart enough to see a guy in a harlem globetrotters costume, maybe even with an afro...and make the jump that he is dressed up as a harlem globetrotter. Not that difficult. There's no need to put black make up on.

If I'm going somewhere as a ninja warrior, I don't need to pin my eyes back either.

I always laugh as well (this but isn't at you) when I see things like those racial stereotypes/ problems etc don't exist in my country. Really? I must have missed when France and Spain became social utopias with no racism? Are people serious with this stuff?

As a few others have said, I'm not offended. There's far worse things in the world than a footballer in a stupid costume. Pretty silly from him though.

I apologise for the apparent stupidty of this question because I do struggle to understand. If you are not offended by it, how do you deem it offensive?

I'm not trying to be funny here. Just genuinely curious.
 
I apologise for the apparent stupidty of this question because I do struggle to understand. If you are not offended by it, how do you deem it offensive?

I'm not trying to be funny here. Just genuinely curious.

Blacking your face up is offensive, as evidenced by dozens of people throughout this thread. That’s factual.

Being offended is a choice you make in response to a situation.

I chose to not be offended purely because I don’t have the energy for the amount of racism that’s still prevalent in 2017, and it would exhaust me otherwise.
 
I think this is a good point. I said something similar in the Lukaku's big dick thread. Everyone jumped straight to outrage based on what they thought was offensive to black people. The second someone black or Lukaku himself said it was offensive, that's when you own up and apologise for being a dick, but until such time it seems a little...I don't know, contrived?

Except that Lukaku's chant was at the very least racially insensitive simply because the chant purposefully singled Lukaku out based on the colour of his skin by reinforcing an age-old stereotype. The intent was there, and the same principle could also be applied in the case of Park's eating dog chant.

It's different with Griezmann's blackface. There's no doubt he should have known better in the sense that it's never a good idea in the first place to paint your face black in this day and age (regardless of whether one fully understands the negative connotations of the blackface), but the whole making a huge drama out of an innocuous faux pas seems to be a classic case of SJW outrage in my book.
 
Except that Lukaku's chant was at the very least racially insensitive simply because the chant purposefully singled Lukaku out based on the colour of his skin by reinforcing an age-old stereotype. The intent was there, and the same principle could also be applied in the case of Park's eating dog chant.

It's different with Griezmann's blackface. There's no doubt he should have known better in the sense that it's never a good idea in the first place to paint your face black in this day and age (regardless of whether one fully understands the negative connotations of the blackface), but the whole making a huge drama out of an innocuous faux pas seems to be a classic case of SJW outrage in my book.

I wouldn’t say it’s an innocuous faux pas, but I agree the Lukaku chant was intentional, this wasn’t.
 
We're heading towards a future where a white person will only be able to dress up as a white character, an indian (native american) as an indian character, a black person as a black character and so on.

That doesn't seem racist at all... nope.

What a fantastic world it will be. Let's ban emotions and censor humor too while we're at it. I wonder which topics comedians will have left to joke about in 10 years time.

Tbf, if your taste in comedy is over reliant on dressing up as other races, you’ve probably got a really shit taste in comedy. When was the last hilarious example of that working? What will we ever do without Rob Sneider’s ‘Mexican’ cameos in Adam Sandler films!?
 
Then the 7/10 are dumb.

The guy openly loves basketball and hiphop culture, culture that is dominated by people of color. He loves it. Those guys are his fecking boyhood heroes. But yea, no no no, he's a racist. He heils the führer the moment he gets inside his house.

What he did was misguided, but with the best of intentions.
Wooshhh
 
Tbf, if your taste in comedy is over reliant on dressing up as other races, you’ve probably got a really shit taste in comedy. When was the last hilarious example of that working? What will we ever do without Rob Sneider’s ‘Mexican’ cameos in Adam Sandler films!?

The Mighty Boosch?
 
Weak reply. Hey, good thing about the internet is you'll be humbled. I'll give you another L, but this time I'll educate you, too.

Essentially, in the early 19th century, Blackface was used in minstrel shows by white people to portray black "characters" (why hire black actors when you can use Blackface?). Performances were built on stereotypes. Stereotypes like the black man who always has his eyes on white women (buck for example). Everything was dumbed down... Black people were portrayed as hypersexual, aggressive, lazy, ignorant, and thieves. So no, comparing it to white chicks or whatever other nonsense is not the same thing, that's false equivalency. Which is why I came for your neck.

Blackface isn't just makeup or shoe polish; it isn't paying homage to your favourite athlete; it's a tool that was introduced to degrade and demean black people. If you feel indignant when Blackface is referred to as racist, then you have a lot of learning and growing up to do.

It doesn't matter what your intention is, when the thing you are doing is racist.

You should also read this (quote from the article below).

"The ability to be ignorant, to be unaware of the history and consequences of racial bigotry, to simply do as one pleases, is a quintessential element of privilege. The ability to disparage, to demonize, to ridicule, and to engage in racially hurtful practices from the comfort of one's segregated neighborhoods and racially homogeneous schools reflects both privilege and power. The ability to blame others for being oversensitive, for playing the race card, or for making much ado about nothing are privileges codified structurally and culturally."

And this.

You're welcome.

Jesus what a stupid quote in this context. Not all ignorance is privilege. If a Slavic kid growing up on the streets in the Balkan, orphaned by the war, sees Ronaldo on tv in the 2002 World Cup and dresses up as him for some occasion, painting his face to be more like his hero, is that 'privilege and power'? What does this American idea of "racially segregated neighborhoods" and ignorance of this particular aspect of US history have anything to do with privilege or power?

Black face is idiotic but so is thinking that quote is in any way relevant to a French footballer, who grew up in France, Portugal and Spain, painting his face brown to look like the players on a team he looked up to.
 
I think people would have easily understood that he was supposed to be a Harlem Globetrotter without the blackface, purely because he was wearing a Harlem Globetrotter kit. It wasn't a remotely necessary part of the costume, and was pretty much him going "haha I'm a black man now," as if that is somehow funny.
 
Jesus what a stupid quote in this context. Not all ignorance is privilege. If a Slavic kid growing up on the streets in the Balkan, orphaned by the war, sees Ronaldo on tv in the 2002 World Cup and dresses up as him for some occasion, painting his face to be more like his hero, is that 'privilege and power'? What does this American idea of "racially segregated neighborhoods" and ignorance of this particular aspect of US history have anything to do with privilege or power?

Black face is idiotic but so is thinking that quote is in any way relevant to a French footballer, who grew up in France, Portugal and Spain, painting his face brown to look like the players on a team he looked up to.

Aye, millionaire footballer Antoine Griezman is akin to a Slavic orphan who grew up on the streets.
 
Jesus what a stupid quote in this context. Not all ignorance is privilege. If a Slavic kid growing up on the streets in the Balkan, orphaned by the war, sees Ronaldo on tv in the 2002 World Cup and dresses up as him for some occasion, painting his face to be more like his hero, is that 'privilege and power'? What does this American idea of "racially segregated neighborhoods" and ignorance of this particular aspect of US history have anything to do with privilege or power?

Black face is idiotic but so is thinking that quote is in any way relevant to a French footballer, who grew up in France, Portugal and Spain, painting his face brown to look like the players on a team he looked up to.

Your hypothetical Slavic kid can wear a Ronaldo jersey, doesn’t need to paint his face at all. His jersey will be more than enough.
 
How does that even make the news? He did absolutely nothing wrong here. Is it racist now to dress up as a black person?
 
I think people would have easily understood that he was supposed to be a Harlem Globetrotter without the blackface, purely because he was wearing a Harlem Globetrotter kit. It wasn't a remotely necessary part of the costume, and was pretty much him going "haha I'm a black man now," as if that is somehow funny.

Excellent point that so many are missing.
 
I wouldn’t say it’s an innocuous faux pas, but I agree the Lukaku chant was intentional, this wasn’t.

Both Lukaku's chant and this are racist regardless of intent and that should be the end of it. It's just that after reading the whole thread I get the impression that many on here are giving Griezmann way too much stick, in typical SJW outrage fashion, for something he may not have been aware of and has apologised for on top. 'Innocent faux pas' might not be the right phrase, my apologies, but I think you know what I'm trying to say here.
 
I think people would have easily understood that he was supposed to be a Harlem Globetrotter without the blackface, purely because he was wearing a Harlem Globetrotter kit. It wasn't a remotely necessary part of the costume, and was pretty much him going "haha I'm a black man now," as if that is somehow funny.

I agree with that and also the fact that if he chooses to dress up like people he supposedly looks up to, he should do so in a way that doesn't likely offend them, which this most likely does, and by doing so as a public figure has more of a responsibility to be careful with these things.

Aye, millionaire footballer Antoine Griezman is akin to a Slavic orphan who grew up on the streets.

What does his money have to do with his ignorance about US cultural history? Griezmann is clearly a privileged person, but his ignorance in this case is not a result of his privilege. My point is simply that outside of the US specific context that quote was written, it doesn't apply the way @MoneyMay implied it does.

Your hypothetical Slavic kid can wear a Ronaldo jersey, doesn’t need to paint his face at all. His jersey will be more than enough.

But if he does paint his face, ignorant of the connotations over in the US, is that the "quintessential element of privilege" and does it reflect his "privilege and power"?
 
Both Lukaku's chant and this are racist regardless of intent and that should be the end of it. It's just that after reading the whole thread I get the impression that many on here are giving Griezmann way too much stick, in typical SJW outrage fashion, for something he may not have been aware of and has apologised for on top. 'Innocent faux pas' might not be the right phrase, my apologies, but I think you know what I'm trying to say here.

Yep I agree.
I don’t think people are giving Griezmann slack - I think most people have accepted that he’s not the sharpest tool in the box and he clearly was too absent-minded to know better, plus he’s apologised.

Most of the outrage has been directed at those who have turned around and decided that this isn’t racist, and there’s nothing wrong with blacking up - at least that’s who I find most issue with in this thread.
Not really a fan of the SJW term myself, but that’s neither here nor there.
 
How does that even make the news? He did absolutely nothing wrong here. Is it racist now to dress up as a black person?

Can we just lock this now? Posts like this are driving this round and round in circles - either people can't be arsed to go back and read, or they are genuinely on a wind up.

When I was a kid I wanted to be Romario, I didn't feel the need to paint my face, just a stuck on earring and the Brazil shirt with his name on was suffice.

How are people still trying defend this ffs.
 
But if he does paint his face, ignorant of the connotations over in the US, is that the "quintessential element of privilege" and does it reflect his "privilege and power"?

Given your hypothetical situation involves a kid - then the blame falls upon his parents, painting your skin is an unnecessary component to dressing up as someone.

Regardless - the difference between whiteface and black face has been pointed out in this thread countless times.
 
Why would you portray a black person?

Why would you portray anything then? What kind of a question is this? Earlier in the thread someone said "So if he dresses like yao ming, you would expect him to color his skin yellow and slant his eyes?". My answer to that would be yes. If I wanted to go as Yao Ming, then (as a non-Chinese person) of course I would have to use make up to make me look more Chinese. How else am I supposed to give the impression that I'm Yao Ming. I really don't get the outrage.
 
Some people are best ignored, otherwise their ignorance will exhaust you.
 
Why would you portray anything then? What kind of a question is this? Earlier in the thread someone said "So if he dresses like yao ming, you would expect him to color his skin yellow and slant his eyes?". My answer to that would be yes. If I wanted to go as Yao Ming, then (as a non-Chinese person) of course I would have to use make up to make me look more Chinese. How else am I supposed to give the impression that I'm Yao Ming. I really don't get the outrage.

Easy, you'd wear a Houston Rockets joursey with Ming on the back and stand on stilts of some kind.

If you still think people won't get it, you could always wear a Yao Ming mask too...
 
Why would you portray anything? What kind of a question is this? Earlier in the thread someone said "So if he dresses like yao ming, you would expect him to color his skin yellow and slant his eyes?". My answer to that would be yes. If I wanted to go as Yao Ming, then (as a non-Chinese person) of course I would have to use make up to make me look more Chinese. How else am I supposed to give the impression that I'm Yao Ming. I really don't get the outrage.

I will rephrase it, what is the context of the portraying?

For example, if a white american portrays a native american just to have a laugh then people have the right to take it as they want and be offended because being a native american, looking like a native american isn't a joke, it's someone's essence. Now, if you portray a native american in a play or a movie in a serious and respectful way, then there is no problem.

The core problem is that often painting your skin is a medium to make fun of someone's identity and the reality is that that person has every rights to be offended.
 
Given your hypothetical situation involves a kid - then the blame falls upon his parents, painting your skin is an unnecessary component to dressing up as someone.

Regardless - the difference between whiteface and black face has been pointed out in this thread countless times.

His parents? I told you he's an orphan ;)

Anyway I'm saying he grew up in the Balkan, but he could be Griezmann's age in my hypothetical and it still wouldn't change things.

Also even if the hypothetical Balkan kid had parents, how would you expect his 20th century Balkan parents to know this small detail about US cultural history and expect them to think it significant enough to their lives to teach their son about it at some point? What other knowledge do you expect everyone globally to magically be aware of and live by?

And again I'd still like to hear an answer whether the hypothetical reflects any sort of power or privilege?

Also I've never mentioned whiteface nor am I defending black face. In my own country, I'm against the Zwarte Piet/Black peter 'christmas' tradition of blackface. I don't think it comes from a bad place, nor do I think it was racially motivated for at least the decades I've been alive, but I do see how it affects some people and I don't see reason to defend i's usage simply because we didn't used to hurt anyone with it. (also I've never really liked the character tbh)

All I'm arguing is this idea from the quote that this form of ignorance == privilege and power, in the context of this thread and in most contexts outside of the US and maybe the UK.
 
Why would you portray anything? What kind of a question is this? Earlier in the thread someone said "So if he dresses like yao ming, you would expect him to color his skin yellow and slant his eyes?". My answer to that would be yes. If I wanted to go as Yao Ming, then (as a non-Chinese person) of course I would have to use make up to make me look more Chinese. How else am I supposed to give the impression that I'm Yao Ming. I really don't get the outrage.
I guess you'd also have to grow about two feet.. because how else will everyone know you are Yao Ming and not just Mao Zedong in a basketball top.
 
His parents? I told you he's an orphan ;)

Anyway I'm saying he grew up in the Balkan, but he could be Griezmann's age in my hypothetical and it still wouldn't change things.

Also even if the hypothetical Balkan kid had parents, how would you expect his 20th century Balkan parents to know this small detail about US cultural history and expect them to think it significant enough to their lives to teach their son about it at some point? What other knowledge do you expect everyone globally to magically be aware of and live by?

And again I'd still like to hear an answer whether the hypothetical reflects any sort of power or privilege?

Also I've never mentioned whiteface nor am I defending black face. In my own country, I'm against the Zwarte Piet/Black peter 'christmas' tradition of blackface. I don't think it comes from a bad place, nor do I think it was racially motivated for at least the decades I've been alive, but I do see how it affects some people and I don't see reason to defend i's usage simply because we didn't used to hurt anyone with it. (also I've never really liked the character tbh)

All I'm arguing is this idea from the quote that this form of ignorance == privilege and power, in the context of this thread and in most contexts outside of the US and maybe the UK.

Yeah I’m not big on arguing hypothetical situations because they’re pointless.
If your hypothetical Balkan is actually an adult and decides to don white face, then he’s ignorant yes.
And being ignorant to the effects of black face represents a privilege because you aren’t exposed to the offence it can cause.

Having privilege isn’t about being rich or poor, which I guess is why you decided to hypothesise about a poor white kid.
 
Easy, you'd wear a Houston Rockets joursey with Ming on the back and stand on stilts of some kind.

If you still think people won't get it, you could always wear a Yao Ming mask too...

why is it so difficult for people to understand this.
 
why is it so difficult for people to understand this.

I don't understand it, sorry. Essentially what you're saying is that you can never use make-up to make yourself look more like another person if that person is of a different ethnicity. I assume you'd be okay with using bronzer to make myself look like Cristiano Ronaldo, though.
 
Why would you portray anything then? What kind of a question is this? Earlier in the thread someone said "So if he dresses like yao ming, you would expect him to color his skin yellow and slant his eyes?". My answer to that would be yes. If I wanted to go as Yao Ming, then (as a non-Chinese person) of course I would have to use make up to make me look more Chinese. How else am I supposed to give the impression that I'm Yao Ming. I really don't get the outrage.

Jesus, this can't be a serious question?

You're not going dressed as a random black person. You're not going to a fancy dress party as jamal or malcolm, the random blacks. You'd generally be going as a famous black person. You're going as a specific basketball player, a specific figure.

If I'm going to a party as batman or superman, the fact they're white does not make the character. I can go in a cape with my pants on top of my trousers with a big S on my shirt and it be very obvious that I'm going as superman. I don't need to whiten my face to make it obvious. Nor do you need to blacken your face to make it obvious you're going as a harlem globetrotter.

Not to mention the obvious historial connotations behind going as blackface, as opposed to 'white-face' for example.

And yep, I think most people would acknowledge that griezmann is not a marauding racist who's just steps away from pulling out his white power flag. The problem comes when people take extreme views and decide that people analysing the situation in any way other than this is all a massive laugh means them jumping to these extremes where apparently he must be a massive closet racist.
 
I don't understand it, sorry. Essentially what you're saying is that you can never use make-up to make yourself look more like another person if that person is of a different ethnicity. I assume you'd be okay with using bronzer to make myself look like Cristiano Ronaldo, though.

Have you not met your daily max of posts yet?
Jesus Christ.