Northwestern students 'blackface' costumes spark outrage

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

Source: The Daily Voice

Some students at Northwestern University in Chicago are in hot water after they wore Halloween costumes with blackface.

"While I fully support the principles of free expression, at the same time I am deeply disappointed to see any example of insensitivity that demeans a segment of our community," Northwestern President Morton Schapiro told students, faculty and staff in an e-mail to the community.

One of the students (shown above) dressed as a female tennis player in blackface while another wore a T-shirt with the word "Jamaica" on it.

Marcus Shepard, an intern in African American Student Affairs, told The Daily Northwestern student newspaper that he found photos of the students on Facebook on Sunday morning, but the photos were later removed.


Read more: http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2009/11/northwestern-students-blackfac-002383.php

[ccharles000]

1. k/r

[Steerpike]

2. Now...

this is racist...

[izquierdista]

9. Does it have to be?

I'd have to see the costume before I would rush to judgment. Changing your ethnicity, including lightening or darkening your skin, as part of a holiday costume doesn't sound racist. Maybe they should have asked these guys:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. Here is one of them.

[izquierdista]

20. AAaaaack!

What offends me most is not the one in the middle. What ever happened to togas?

[Kolesar]

3. I hate Illinois nazis...eom

[No Elephants]

4. I support free expression, but am deeply disappointed is what passes for "outrage" now?

[theorbiter]

5. Wow!

Aren't there ACTUAL racist actions to confront in this country. Puh-lease! sometimes I feel we need some de-sensitivity classes on college campuses.

[Robb]

6. Like what? Tell us more. nt

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. I can't wait for this one.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. Sonia Sotomayor!

:evilgrin:

[theorbiter]

21. ....

I don't know. I asked the question which you answered with a question. Here, I will rephrase it in case the meaning somehow escaped you. Aren't there ACTUAL racist issues in this country that need to be dealt with?
One thing is certain, this is not one of them. The use of Blackface in the historical and demeaning sense of which it is generally understood, was systematic parody of perceived black negative stereotypes done on stage, in front of large audience, with the goal of capitalizing on said action at the expense of the black race. A faaaaaar cry from some college douchebag dressing up as Serena Williams for Halloween. His thought pattern was more than likely something like this; "Hey my Serena Williams costume would look much cooler if I paint myself black, for otherwise people will just think I am Billie Jean king."

[Eric Condon]

8. Is it just me, or does this shit seem to happen every Halloween?

Not a year goes by that there isn't some college campus where a bunch of students (always a group) do this, and then act shocked, shocked I tell you, that people find it offensive.

I just graduated college two years ago, and it sure as hell isn't as "liberal" as everyone always acts like it is. Really more than anything, colleges thrive nowadays on meathead jock behavior, not social consciousness like back in the day. I often speak of my disdain for Boomer self-mythologizing, but I gotta say, they knew how to do it right as far as college goes.

[Lilyeye]

35. I'm a college student and your post was right on.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. Yes! nt

[CoffinEd]

13. Not this sh*t again!

It seems an incident like this happens every year on some US college campus. I say that if the people painting their faces "black" really want to be like me, then just become black dammit. As to how to go about doing that, I suggest they contact the dude who made the movie "Black Like Me" or, more recently, the young white guy who couldn't last an entire weekend before trying to wipe the blackness off of him.

Shees! B-)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Is there a way to do Black-face or dress up like a black historical figure/celebrity ...

... without being disrespectful or racist? I imagine there were probably a bunch of Barack Obamas running around on halloween - and not all freepers.

I understand the black-face minstrel act that everyone knows is wrong. I guess I wouldn't expect such a backlash from doing a historical figure or celebrity. But I've been wrong before and I am always open to suggestions.

I've seen people do Bob Marley (even Dan Aykroyd did a Jamaican in Trading Places) and Mr. T and never gave it much of a thought.

I'll admit, the picture in the linked story leads me to believe we are probably dealing with some major douche-bags.

[CoffinEd]

18. You've got a creative handle

"I understand the black-face minstrel act that everyone knows is wrong. I guess I wouldn't expect such a backlash from doing a historical figure or celebrity. But I've been wrong before and I am always open to suggestions."

Exactly. It's the "black-face (aka, dancing darkie) minstrel act" that seems to attract a lot of these young white folks. Dressing up as a black historical figure or celebrity is no big deal, as imitation is the highest form of flattery (in some cases that is). However, simply putting black paint on your face, donning plantation-era slave attire, and behaving like a damn fool in public typically leads to um, shall we say, a serious misunderstanding. At least that's how I see it.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. I don't disagree.

I'm assuming the celebrity the person in the picture supposed to be is Serena (sp?) Williams and, yes, my guess is the frat boy was probably acting the fool. Maybe the guy is a tennis fan - more likely he is a douche-bag.

(the handle is a Three Stooges reference)

[Taverner]

16. OK - reminder to everyone - Blackface is derogatory and racist

Why is it so hard for some white kids to get this?

And the kids are always "I'm not a racist! I like black people!"

Well if you do love black people so much, pick up a book and read about blackface, and while you're at it, look up Stepin Fetchit and Jim Crow (the character, not the laws - although those would be good reading too)

[mitchum]

22. Minstrelsy also has a very complicated history in America...

it moved through different stages of presentations of exoticism to buffoonery. Through it's development of stock characters and highly ritualized presentation, it was essentially a homegrown Commedia dell'arte.
And of course, every white kid who has ever performed blues, jazz, r&b,
soul, rockandroll, and rap has been drawing upon the minstrel tradition.

[Taverner]

23. I'm still amazed that they were still showing a Minstrel show on BBC back in the 70's

If you've ever seen it - its really bizarre. Basically Lawrence Welk in blackface.

[mitchum]

26. I have considered creating a hoax about a movement called Minstrel Underground...

where aficionados get together and recreate classic minstrel routines in secrecy.
Mr Tambo, Mr Bones, the Interlocuter...everyone would be there!

[tonysam]

25. Yep. But why let facts get in the way?

Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson, two of the greatest entertainers who ever lived, spent much of their careers performing in blackface.

Hell, a lot of black vaudevillians performed in blackface; it was the style way back then.

It had nothing to do with racism, but unfortunately that has been lost over the decades.

[marshall]

29. There's a difference between blackface and a white person using makeup to look African American

This is blackface:

<>

This is not blackface:

<>

[Taverner]

32. Well yes, but once again the school of gray kicks in

Robert Downey Jr's performance was not blackface, partly because it was making a point, and partly because he was playing someone who was playing a black character. Kind of how that movie did not demean the mentally challenged, but it made fun of those who did.

[dysfunctional press]

34. blackface is also a pretty well-defined type of makeup...

the year that michael jordan quit the bulls(the first time), i did my whole body in brown, and went as him- and it wasn't 'blackface'.

i had a friend who did the same kind of costume(although i didn't know about it until i saw him several days later- we went to different parties), and he went waaaay further than i did- he shaved his head to do it- and he had hair that went halfway to his ass.

[Xithras]

36. And a reminder to the old people...

A 20 year old college kid today was born in 1989, has no real memories of anything before 1994, and has likely never seen a single TV show or movie in their life that depicted a white actor in blackface. I'd bet cash that 95% of college students couldn't tell you what a minstrel show was if you put up a $100 prize and gave them a phone-a-friend. Minstrel shows and early Hollywood depictions of the happy slave aren't covered in high school history classes.

Most kids today simply don't comprehend the meaning, or offensiveness, that putting on blackface has for many people. Trust me...I teach these kids every day and am constantly reminded that much of what I consider to be "common knowledge" is looked upon as "obscure history" by my students. You want to have a scary conversation? Stop a random 19 year old and ask them what the Cold War was all about. Most won't be able to tell you. If they don't know that, what are the odds they'll know anything about something as trivial as institutionalized racism within early 20th century theater and film?

It's just not a part of their world. The flower-power, pro civil rights 60's that spawned the backlash against those types of racist depictions was their grandparents generation. They have never experienced anything like that.

[mule_train]

17. wonder how much SPLC paid the students, to keep the bogyman alive?

now before you flame me, of course they didnt

but i ask you honestly - was their fundraising department truely happy, or sad to see this?

[newtothegame]

19. It's a free country. n/t

[dd20045]

24. anyone take into consideration

that the students dont know that blackface may be offensive...highly probably...next halloween they will obviously be picking their costumes more carefully

[slackmaster]

27. I did a blackface Halloween costume a few years ago, and it was received very well by everyone

Except a few white hand-wringers on DU. I was a mean-looking scary black pirate with lots of blood.

The black people I ran into that evening all laughed. One of them was actually fooled, briefly, into thinking I was black. That was early in the evening before my makeup got smudged up.

[CreekDog]

30. you know black people and you know they like it

well, i guess that settles it.

:rofl:

[slackmaster]

33. A couple of corrections since you didn't read my post very carefully

I know some black people, and I know the ones I saw that night liked it.

[Lagomorph]

31. College Students, acting outragous....who'da thunk?

Drunk, insensitive frat boys...what is the world coming to?

:eyes: