So I feel the need to set everyone straight about all this black face talk. Everyone at Brock University needs to relax. First of all, it is not racist to say a black man is black. It is no insult to say a dead man is dead. It is not wrong for you to call me by my name Tom, because its my name. Just because a group of students dress up as the Jamaican bobsled team, and cover themselves in make up, they are suddenly racist? Obviously, it is acceptable to be taken as slightly inappropriate, but racist? Get over it and stop trying to be politically correct. They should not be at fault or penalized for their lack of education about our culture or history, but rather excused. One of my own friends here in Toronto did black face, and I can honestly say I took no offense to it. There was no intent to be offensive, or racist...so why try and convince ourselves that there was? The reason people were initially upset is because of the history behind it, which is this. After the emancipation of black slaves, social mobility and equality was still denied to blacks, by law and social exclusion. One economic activity permitted them was as entertainers in minstrel shows, often to entertain whites. Earlier 20th century white entertainers blackened their hands and faces to imitate black minstrels, intentionally recalling the social norm that blacks roles were limited. You can read articles about that sort of history all over the internet if you do your research. So to say that those students werent thinking about it, is correct...yet is not their fault. Canadian schools seem to neglect education about that sort of thing. Not only in African American history, but also native Canadian history. It is the government and the educational systems fault for not instilling important historical facts about the mistakes in the past, from whites in our own country, into the minds of their students. Punish the students for neglecting that piece of history? They were never taught in the first place. So get over it and start looking at the real problem, because it really was, just a costume.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 19:47:56 +0000
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