Feb

3

“What cracker is this?”

Filed Under Blackface Parties, Class Classism and Economic Inequality, Race and Racism | 14 Comments

(being a post by atlasien on the race and class dimensions of the word “cracker”)

In north Florida and south Georgia, the word cracker usually isnt used as a slur. In fact, it can be a point of ethnic, regional pride. You might hear, my family are real Florida crackers. It means theyre not newcomers; that theyre descended from Scots-Irish settlers and have roots in the region that are centuries old. It means their family had a poor rural background but pride in their history. In a bright-shiny-bring-on-the-new-and-pave-over-everything state like Florida, this is a fairly meaningful statement.

Theres a Florida Cracker Museum and a Cracker Heritage Festival.

Ive heard the story that many of the Crackers were muledrivers in the Civil War, and got the name from the crack of their whips. Another common claim is that crackers were plantation overseers and the crack of their whip was directed onto slaves. However, thats just pure wishful thinking by people who want to make the term simpler to use as a slur. The true origin of the word is mildly insulting but has nothing to do with whips.

From the New Georgia Encyclopedia:

Linguists now believe the original root to be the Gaelic craic, still used in Ireland (anglicized in spelling to crack) for “entertaining conversation.” The English meaning of cracker as a braggart appears by Elizabethan times, as, for example, in Shakespeare’s King John (1595): “What cracker is this . . . that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?”

By the 1760s the English, both at home and in colonial America, were applying the term to Scots-Irish settlers of the southern backcountry, as in this passage from a letter to the earl of Dartmouth: “I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode.” The word then came to be associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontiersmen.

The word cracker has had a second life as a racial slur. Its had more staying power than other attempts at racial slurs for white people. I believe the reason is that its not purely a racial slur. Its a classist insult in complicated disguise.

When used by a black person (or other person of color, but its most common among black people) against a white person, its meant as an insult, of course. The primary intent is to throw the persons whiteness in their face. But thats really no great accomplishment.

Racial slurs are powerful because they create a feedback loop of otherness and exclusion. A word like n***er or ch**k draws on a pre-established racial hierarchy to encapsulate a powerful message: you are different, you do not belong, Im on high and you are low, Im on the inside and you are on the outside, I matter and you dont. A slur against white people simply cant accomplish that. You might as well say, youre you’re… a white person! Yes, the white person is reminded that they belong to a race, and that youre trying to exclude them from something by insulting them. That racialization might hurt, but society as a whole doesnt reinforce racialization on white people, and theyre much more free to deny that their race matters. The exclusion might hurt, too. But the white person is being excluded from a specific place (the general vicinity of the person of color that called them a cracker) and not that extra level of exclusion, exclusion from an existence that matters.

This is why any racial slur against white people is never as powerful, in itself, as other kinds of racial slurs.

The word cracker has a little extra element, however, because of its class dimension. The person using the insult is really trying to say something like you, white person, who think you are so above me by being white, well youre not so smart and fresh and civilized as your whiteness would suggest, there are low class white people less civilized than I am, and you may as well be one of those lower class people!

The message is somewhat tortured, so its effectiveness is variable.

Like the term white trash, cracker has a parallel use by white people against other white people. In fact, this use might be the most common one. This way, its a pure class insult, and much more effective. A white person who comes from a poor rural background and moves to a different environment has to face a lot of judgments and maybe slurs of this nature. It can be psychologically devastating. When wielded by a person accepted to be of a higher social class, the effect is very similar to a racial slur: you are different, you do not belong, Im on high and you are low

I would hate to ever use the word cracker as an insult, primarily because I dont think its fair to those white working-class people. Some of them are good people, some of them are ignorant people, some of them are terrible people, some of them are racists and some of them are fairly enlightened. I dont think theyre the scum of the earth and Im sad that some people think they are.

Ive noticed that people protesting the loudest against use of the word cracker dont make class arguments. They also don’t protest against the use of the term “white trash”. Instead, they make racism-equivalence arguments to try and prove the people of color are persecuting them. Why dont I get to be a victim too, goddamnit!

I think these are the kind of people who watched the trailer for the movie White Chicks and thought hah, another stupid Wayans Brothers movie then instantly forgot about it, until years later when they heard about some white college students getting in trouble for a blackface party, and then decided that White Chicks was obviously the first offensive in an upcoming race war, a politically correct Triumph of the Will, and much more evil and terrible and cruel than anything a white person has ever done to a black person.

Then they complain about the word cracker and then they go have lunch at the Cracker Barrel.

Jan

10

(Pt 2) 2007 The Year in Race, Ethnicity, and Racism: The Top 10 List of the Most Fashionable Racial Trends

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Hip Hop, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

In 2006, inspired by Racialicous, I put up a post of the top trends in race and racism for 2006. Given the popularity of that post, and the general enjoyment I get from discussing folks’ perceptions of trends, I figured I would make a list again this year. Here is the second half of my 2007 list. They are in no particular order:

6. “Model Minority” Black Immigrants–This was one of my predictions for 2007, and I was right about this one. There were several stories about African and Caribbean immigrants, focusing on the grand achievements. While some people think comparing African American blacks with foreign born blacks provides evidence that African Americans could really do better if they just “worked harder” and stopped “using the race card,” they miss how immigration law shapes the social status of foreign born blacks, especially African born blacks. Given the current structure of immigration policy, most of the African born blacks who are able to come to the US come as professional and students. The number of refugees and poor immigrants is fairly small, but the number of diplomats, professors, and students is fairly high. My partner and his relatives are good examples of this–He and his sister were the first to arrive in the US. His sister has a PhD, speaks 5 languages, and is a translator for the United Nations, and my partner was a excellent sprinter who was able to convince three Division I American Universities to give him track scholarships based on his race times in Nigeria. For both of them, it was the demand in the US for their talents, combined with a great deal of determination, that brought them to the US, but they hardly represent the typical Nigerian.

7. College Racism–Oh how I wish I didn’t have to put this on the list again, but a quick look at Vox Ex Machina,, which maintains the definitive list, reveals numerous incidents of racism on college campuses. From nooses to racially themed parties to rogue newspapers and all kinds of other incidents, students were busy this year. Often, the racist students posted their racist handy work on facebook and other social networking sites. I’m not really sure if today’s college students are any more racist than the college students were back when I was in college (mid-1990s). Social scientists could use survey data to track racial attitudes of college students, but the colorblind ideology is so prevalent that students know how to give the “right” answers even if their behavior belies such sentiments.

8. Celebrity International (Transracial) Adoption–I’m not sure if this trend fits better into 2006 or 2007, but nonetheless, it seems like every celebrity wanted to adopt a child from outside the US. Following the lead of Madonna and Angelina Jolie, numerous celebrities were rumored to be looking to adopt. I don’t think many of these celebrities will actually follow through and adopt, but there is something unsettling about transracial, international adoption being hip and cool. We are talking about the well being of children, but when adoption seems to be a media fad, I can see many unprepared and otherwise ignorant people adopting for the wrong reason and not respecting the rule of law like this French charity in Chad.

9. Begging to Apologize to Blacks via Al Sharpton–Apparently, racist whites have anointed Al Sharpton the “King of Black America” because every two bit loser who made a racist comment this year went begging to apologize to black folks via Sharpton (and sometimes Jesse Jackson, who must be second in line to the thrown). Don Imus, Michael Richards, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and I’m sure others who I have forgotten, all either went on Sharpton’s show or begged to meet with him. Do I really need to say anything else?

10. Using Racist Comments By Whites To Talk About How Blacks Need to Change–This may be number 10 on the list, but it was by far the most annoying trend of the year. It seems like every time a well known white person made racist comments the discussion ended up being refocused on how blacks need to fix themselves. I dedicated a full post to this topic in Oct. because I just couldn’t take it anymore. In fact, many of these discussions remind me of of children’s excuses for bad behavior. For example, let’s say I find little Timmy’s hand in the cookie jar. What’s the first thing little Timmy says, “Well Sarah did it, too?” Now, any good parent is not going to be fooled into turning Timmy’s cookie theft into a reason to punish Sarah. Unfortunately, when it comes to racism, many in white America act just like little Timmy, so racist comments from Don Imus and other whites turn into discussions of the pathologies of Blacks.

What do you think? Did I miss anything?

Dec

10

Trans Identity: Sex Changes, Race Changes, Drag, and Passing

Filed Under Blackface Parties, Gender and Sexism, Interracial Relationships, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Sociology | 29 Comments

Admin’s Note: This is a post that I originally put up in May of 2006.? Unfortunately, I lost the comments when I moved servers, but if I remember correctly there weren’t too many comments.? There was a pretty good discussion over at Alas, which you can read here.

This is one of those essays Ive been meaning write for a while. Let me start by making an observation: I think political progressives are more accepting of transgender identities than they are of transracial identities. In fact, the only time I ever read or hear the word transracial it is connected with adoption. Its almost as if queering gender lines (blurring them for people who are not into queer theory), is hip and cool in some progressive circles, but I get the impression transracial identities are not. Now I should say that I do not think either transgender or transracial identities are accepted by the larger culture, but I definitely think there is a difference between how the two are treated among progressives. I understand that this is probably a controversial position, but the whole notion of a transracial identity hasnt even been theorized in most of the literature I have read.

Race and Gender Drag Shows One way of blurring/queering gender and racial lines is the use of drag. Drag tends to be a temporary thing used in performance. The person in drag changes their identity for the purpose of performance, but does not change their identity in all aspects of their lives. I first started thinking about this when the show Black.White came out. The show was roundly criticized by the blogs that I regularly read (Mixedmediawatch.com, Reappropriate, Blackademic). I watched the show, and I tend to agree with many of the criticisms cited by these bloggers. Personally, I am very uncomfortable with many aspects of racial and gender drag when they are used as a technique to get people to understand what it is like to be the other. Im not so sure that dressing in race or gender drag can really teach people. It would be really interesting to compare and contrast contemporary racial drag and gender drag to see which one is more likely to be used to entertain and which one is used to teach. I get the sense that in this era gender drag is more likely to be used as entertainment, and racial drag is more likely to be used as a teachable moment. It seems that gender drag shows invoke gender stereotypes to entertain, and many people seem to think of gender drag as hilarious. In contrast racial drag invokes stereotypes, to entertain, but in many cases, like Black.White, it is viewed as entertainment plus education. Now I am not speaking in absolutesI have seen cases where gender drag is used to teach, such as pregnancy suits, and I have seen racial drag used purely for entertainment purposes, such as most of the early Black face performances. However, I am particularly interested in how contemporary progressives view this issue, and my sense is that one type of drag seems to be treated in a different manner than the other.

Transgender and Transracial Identities Unlike drag, transracial and transgender identities, are more permanent. If people are transracial or transgender, they are altering the gender or racial identity on a long term basis and integrating this view of identity and everyday live. (It should be duly noted that Microsoft word is marking transracial as a misspelling.). In most of the literature I read transracial identities are referred to as racial passing, and passing is generally referred to in negative terms. Transgender identities are also viewed negatively, but more recently there is a move afoot to accept the transgender, and part of this movement (not all of it) seeks to explain transgender identities through a medicalized view of the problem. (I use the term problem here loosely because I personally dont see it as a problem, but I think the medical profession does.) What I wonder about is what would happen if we started treating racial identities in the same way. To some extent it is already happening, according to research by Maggie Hunter. Hunter found that many textbooks used to train plastic surgeons tend to medicalize the eyes and noses of Asians describing them as in need over repair, although a similar trend does not seem to appear for Whites. But I wonder, will it be a matter of time before we talk about race reassignment surgery? And I wonder how the medical profession would frame this? I think people cold learn to accept and celebrate transgender identities and transracial identities without using a medicalization framework, but I digress from my primary point, which is that there does not seem to be an organized movement to accept transracial identities. So I wonder, what would such a movement look like, and is a movement necessary?

What Do You Think? I think one of the fundamental differences between race and gender is that the notion of racial mixture or multiracial identity is much more widely accepted than the notion of a mixed gender identity or multigender identity. My sense is that progressives have started to embrace transgender identities as a way to acknowledge such as multigender identity. However, mixed identities are not trans identities. My sense is that progressives have started to embrace transgender identities but dont even have a conception of such a concept when it comes to racial identities. In fact, many progressives have been critical of racial drag, and transracial identities are often called racial passing or cultural appropriation. My sense is that term term gender passing is something used in transgender subcultures, but the term passing seems to refer to behavior not really an identity. Im not firm in my views on this, but there does seem to be a fundamental difference is how transracial and transgender identities are approached (especially among progressives), but comparing how these two identities are theorized (and experienced), raises many questions for meWhy are transgender identities the subject of discussion among progressives, but the concept transracial seems to be virtually non-existent? Why do you think there is a movement among progressives to accept transgender identities, but no such movement to accept transracial identities (assuming you accept the premises of the question)? What differences do you think there are between trangender and transracial identities, and do those differences affect how you view each? If you are comfortable with one and not the other, why?

Oct

4

More Nooses, More Blackface – Qui annus est?

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Bunch-O-Links, Education and Academia, Jena 6, Race and Racism, Racism Round-Up | 7 Comments

These incidents may result in follow-up posts, so consider this the first discussion thread.

First, nooses were left twice in Coast Guard Academy bags -? the first noose was? in the bags of a black cadet, and the second was in the bag of a female instructor AFTER diversity training resulting from the FIRST noose. Why do I think someone slept through the class? I guess nooses are now de rigeur for people with a warped sense of “humor.” Part of the problem may very well be “diversity seminars” that deal in platitudes and extremes instead of valid, practical ? information.

Then, as reported by Pam’s House Blend, Shakespeare’s Sister, and The Smoking Gun, a crew of likely-drunk white college students do improptu blackface (mudface?) and hold up 6 fingers (for the Jena 6) and otherwise strike thug poses. Hint: deleting offensive material from Facebook doesn’t make it disappear, folks… Have they not heard of YouTube? Or even, copy-save?

And here I thought the collegiate wave of blackface parties was SO 2006. All I can really add right now is not the righteous indignation I should feel, but a huffy, annoyed *sigh.* All the excuses for the Jena blackface so far are nothing I haven’t heard before. It’s the same playbook, the same justifications, the same denials. And I’m betting dollars to donuts that we’ll hear the same thing from anyone implicated in the Coast Guard case. I’m tired. I don’t want to be, but I am.

———–

ON a lighter note: in case anyone’s curious about the top (and knows no Latin), the post title is cribbed from a button I own: “Hostes aliengenii me abduxterant -? Qui annus est?”? (roughly: Aliens abducted me – what year is it?)

Sep

22

Jena 6: It’s About the Criminal (In)Justice System

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Class Classism and Economic Inequality, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Sociology | 27 Comments

I was trying my best in the comments over at Alas to explain why the Jena 6 case is troubling to an audience of somewhat skeptical whites. It started from this comment by SamChevre:

Hopefully this doesnt count as a white supremacist comment.

I have a very hard time seeing beating someone unconscious as a legally-permissible response to any taunt (spoken or performed).

I can see that maybe the charge should have been assault vs aggravated assault (Im not an expert on the distinction), but Im not comfortable with he deserved it as a justification for beating someone unconscious.

I dont think that this case is very parallel (as far as prosecutorial over-reach) to the Duke non-rape case. There, the issue was was a crime committed, and if so, by whom. Here, everyone appears to agree that the beating happened and the accused were the ones who did it.

So I responded:

The point has nothing to do with whether or not the young man deserved to be beaten up for yelling racial taunts. No one is saying he deserved to be punched.

What people are saying is that this case should have been treated like the high school fight that it was. The injustice is charging a 16 year old with with attempted murder after a high school fight that resulted in a black eye and a bruised ear. The charges were later reduced to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.(I don’t understand the exact distinctions on this either.), and this is what Mychal Bell was convicted of. But this has been overturned by a judge, who noted that the case should have been conducted in juvenile court. Seriously, can you imagine how many of you or your classmates would be in jail (for up to 22 years) because you got in a fist fight? I know about 1/3 of the people I went to school with would be in jail.

Furthermore, this was the culmination of events where white youths were getting much more lenient punishments. The noose hangers were expelled and then allowed back. A similar fight were white students attacked a lone black student went relatively unpunished, as did a case where a white man threaten a group of black teens with a gun. Here’s a little summary of those events: “The noose-hanging incident and the DA’s visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students “nigger.” After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.”

And then we also have to ask how the hell can a school have a shade tree for whites only. That’s what started this whole thing. A black student asked the principal for permission to sit under the whites shade tree (Should you even have to ask permission?), and suddenly we find nooses on the tree???

I should have added that there are some questions about the involvement of the young men who have been charged. Some say they were not involved in the fight. Nobody is questioning whether or not there was a fight, and it is pretty clear that at least one of these young men was involved. The degree of involvement for each individual person is likely different, and people seem to forget that.

However, if you are going to talk to people about the Jena 6 case, and they only want to focus on the fight in which the black students beat up the white student. They are missing the larger point, which is why the next series of exchanges took place.

Some people took issue with my characterization of the fight saying it was more serious, and the young white man was kicked unconscious. To which I responded:

I dont know anybody who says there should be no punishment. The question is hte severity of the punishment. Perhaps expulsion from school, and probation, some time in youth detention, alternative school. Something like this would be appropriate for a fight, but my point is that this is much bigger than just the fight.
The real question is why are black youths being treated much more harshly than their white counterparts.

Then I got this gem of a comment by Silence is Foo, who later seems to rescind the statement:

I think the problem that people have talking about this case is the fact that the six boys arent innocent. They really did beat the ever-loving-crap out of another boy. So its hard to stand up and say, yeah, but its the fault of the SYSTEM.
Obviously, the police and judicial system in Jena need to be purged of the racists that have handled this whole affair but the issue of what, exactly, to do about the little lynch-mob that received the original charges is pretty divisive.

Thats the problem. Obviously, a grave injustice happened here, but the whole free the jena 6? thing looks, on the surface, like people want them to get off scot-free. This is why only the black activists are rallying behind them.

Imho, if you made the issue Justice for the Jena 6? instead of free them, you might get more traction.

Here’s another comment from Kai Jones:

If you take the race issue out, these events look like a bunch of bullies controlling the population.
Is there a valid argument to be made that race issues justify a group attack on a single person that included stomping on him after beating him to the ground?

So the next tactic was to attack the Free the Jena 6 banner and revert back to the so you’re saying it’s Ok to beat people up argument. Fortunately, others like Myca and Will Shetterly (who surprised me because often he’s in the race is not so important category) also stepped in. This exchange was good:

Myca: I have to wonder why so many people feel the need to point out that beating up this kid was illegal/wrong/unjustified/etc, when I dont think that anyone here has claimed otherwise.
The issue isnt that what the Jena 6 did was justified.

The issue is one of unequal justice, undercharging white students while overcharging black ones, and of the local government turning a blind eye to everything that was going on, allowing it to escalate, escalate, escalate, until finally everything blew up . . . and yeah, the black kids got blamed for it.

Which is typical.

Myca

Myca: I mean, I think a perfect illustration of the situation is that according to the Jena police, sneakers are a deadly weapon, but a shotgun isnt.
Myca
Will S.: Myca, some people are hearing Free and thinking that means giving the six a free pass. What they dont realize is that the six have already paid a lot of dues going through the legal hassles.

Myca: Well, not to mention that beyond going through the legal hassles, at least one of them has been in jail for quite some time now.
Im not minimizing what happened there, and 6-on-1 is out of line regardless . . . but if the standard thats set is that all of this is youthful pranks, and that only changes when its black kids on the giving end rather than the receiving end . . . well, thats the definition of racism.
Myca

This exchange addresses the larger point. There are punishments being meted out in this case. Again, the question is what is fair.
Then the most current exchange is between myself and Jamila Akil:

Jamila: I have to say that at first I jumped on the free the jena 6? bandwagon and even signed a petition or two, but as I read more and more about the facts of this case some red flags are starting to appear in front of my face.
The white kid that was beaten was only in the hospital for less than a day but he was knocked unconscious, kicked in the head, and left blinded in one eye for over a week.

Also, this was wasnt a fight, as it is being reported. The white kid that was beated was punched in the head from behind and was ganged up on. One person being beaten without provocation isnt exactly a fight. This particularly kid that was beaten had nothing to do with hanging the noose or any other racist actions against the black students. He just happened to be a white kid that was an easy target.

Mychal Bell was on probation for other assualt charges at the time of the beating. In fact, this was his the third time before the court on assault charges in a two-year span.

I think that the original sentence was excessive but I do believe that Mychel Bell needs some serious jail time or else the next person he beats up might end up dead instead of just temporarily blinded.

Rachel: Jamila,
Again, by focusing narrowly on the fight that culminated in the attempted murder charges, you are missing the bigger picture.
The argument is that the punishments for the white kids were too light (on three other occasions), and the punishments for the black kids were too heavy handed. Furthermore, had the school not shown so much indifference earlier many of these problems could have been avoided. (I think the principal was reasonable, but the people who overruled his recommendation were not.)
The problem is that the school board and the criminal justice system have let down this kids. How does Mychal Bells lawyer call no witnesses? That is not adequate representation. We already know the court unfairly tried Bell in an adult court, when he should have been tried as a juvenile.

There are numerous cases where the criminal justice system and the school board could have done better. This is the greater picture. Until whites and blacks are treated similarly in the justice system (and we could also argue a class angle here too), there will continue to be thousands of Jenas all over the country.

Nobody is saying Bell should win the peacemaker of the year award. I think he probably needs some anger management, and I think hes served more than enough time in jail by this point.

I know sometimes its kind of hard to feel bad for somebody who you think has done something wrong, but the question is not, Should there be any punishment? The question is, What punishment should there be?

PS- On a different but related note. Many people have ignored the fact that there are likely widely differing levels of involvement for each of the six young men accused, which hopefully will come out in a trial. So we can say hey Mychal Bell had previous legal problems, but that says absolutely nothing about the other young men involved in this case. They should be judged individually based on their participation and their records. Everybody seems to be forgetting this.

So a word of advice to people who are discussing the Jena 6 case, when people try to frame the discussion around only the fight or only Jena, Louisiana, don’t let them. The case itself is much broader, and the issues of our criminal (in)justice system are way bigger than Jena, Louisiana.

Sep

14

Serious Question…For Everyone About Slavery Defenders

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Mail Bag, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Serious Questions | 26 Comments

So I get up this morning, I’m getting ready to clear out my spam filter, and what do I see. This comment from somebody calling himself Carlos:

The Portuguese bought black slaves because they were being sold from black tribes in Africa. The Portuguese needed slaves because of sugar crops. They could make alot of money off sugar but they needed tons of labor because its a labor intensive crop. It was all about money, not the portuguese being lazy. Africa had a resource they could make money off of, slaves, because there was a demand for them. So learn your history. Not all slaves were beaten by there masters in America but for the ones that wereit certainly wasnt the first time for a slave to be beaten in the history of the world.

I dont ever hear white people complaining of Dave Chapelle dressing up as a white guy that looks like he got hit in the face with a bag of flour?? Not only that he goes on to actually ACT like what i guess is a sterotypical white person while in costume ON a major network program. So GET OVER IT its a joke!

This person, who I think has left comments before, appears to be (based on his/her email address) a student, employee, or faculty member at a large university in the south. I think this is the kind of guy who happily goes to one of those blackface Martin Luther King Day parties, but I digress…..

This is not the first defense of slavery I’ve ever heard. The one I have heard more recently is the “black people in America are better off than black people in Africa” argument, which I responded to here at Allywork. I would divide this slavery defense into three categories 1) slave owners were really good people, 2) slaves didn’t have it bad, and 3) slavery was an economic necessity. There’s also the “it’s really black African’s fault that whites had slaves” defense as well.

Then of course, we have the Dave Chappelle defense. I don’t know what parallel universe this person is living in, but I have heard whites complain about Dave Chappelle ad nauseum. Go read this thread, and you will find a whole bunch of whiny white people invoking Dave Chappelle. Did you know this is exactly why Dave Chappelle gave up his $50 million dollar TV show? He realized that many in his core audience didn’t get the point of his humor. And when people like Carlos are not in the mood for Dave Chappelle, they talk about the movie White Chicks.

So let’s get to the point. How would you respond to this comment? What counterpoints would you make about slavery? How would you explain the difference between Dave Chappelle and blackface? Do you think it’s even worth it to respond? Does this sound like someone you know?

Jun

9

Another Racially Themed Party: Plantation Graduation

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Sociology, Uncategorized | 26 Comments

blackface-runaway-slave.jpg

The students and faculty at Riverdale Christian Academy decided to have a plantation party for their graduation. Notice that the party was not to promote any kind of understanding of history; it was a graduation party with a “Southern plantation during the Civil War” theme. So the students and teachers decided to dress up wearing blackface, and mocking runaway slaves. According to the school principal, the point of the skit was to “roast the graduates” and “poke a little fun at their mannerisms.” You can see him actually make this statement in the video posted at this link.

The photos were brought to light when blogger Tate Hill, at Urban Knowledge, found the photos at a photo sharing site called Bebo. The photos are no longer viewable via the links he provided; I’m assuming the poster either made them private or took them down.

Now Mr. Hill is getting deluged with comments from anonymous racism apologists, certainly not a big surprise for those of us who routinely blog against racism. Isn’t it so incredibly sad to see how people’s bigotry spews out when they think they are anonymous?

I also find the “well many of the school’s students are Hispanic” argument to be utterly unconvincing. Apparently, some folks think it is acceptable for Latinos to be anti-Black, which several commenters noted is fairly absurd.

I have posted just one of the pictures to the left, which apparently had the caption “Bringing home the runaway slave in the Senior skit.”

Readers can go to Urban Knowledge blog to see some of the other photos, and their captions. Mr. Hill also has two follow up posts in response to the bigots who tried to take over comments in his first post. You can check them out 1st here and 2nd here. Plus, I know that my readers realize that we can’t let the comments on Mr. Hill’s site to overtaken by people who think a Civil War Plantation themed party is a good way to “roast graduating students” and “poke fun at some of their mannerisms” (in the school Principal’s words not mine). Go give the man some love for fighting these ignorant folks.

I find it very sad to see how so many people think racism and slavery are a joke, but the themed parties show no sign of waning.

Feb

27

Blackface and Redface Pictures From Germany

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, International Racism, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Sociology, Uncategorized | 38 Comments

Rachel’s Tavern Commenter Anony-mouse sent me the pictures of people in blackface and redface. They were taken at the Mainzer Rosenmontag parade in Germany. Anonymouse describes the situation:

Am I overreacting to these photos? Most of us left this German version of Carnival. These were taken last Saturday at the Mainzer Rosenmontag parade. There were white Germans dressed in black face and black costumes carrying spears. There were blond haired Germans with their faces painted red carrying tomahawks. This is called stereotyping and was insulting to many people who were there. We left shortly there after when one the Germans tried to explain it was in good fun and one should not take it personally.

(Perhaps Anony-mouse or someone who reads German can translate for me, and tell me about the significance of this particular parade. I tried to look it up, and everything was in German.)

I think it is important to keep in mind that these images of people of color circulate not only in the US, but around the world. Here are the pictures:

german-parade-indians2.jpg

german-parade-africans.jpg

german-parade-indians.jpg

Feb

12

More Blackface Parties

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Education and Academia, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Ok, this message is for my fellow white people. This makes us look really bad. I know people want to argue about how they didn’t mean to offend, and the people in the costumes are really nice people, etc, etc.

But this needs to stop and if you don’t think racist ramifications of it are enough of a reason to stop then maybe we can agree that it is at the very least bad public relations. It is bad for the partygoers, bad for the schools/bars, bad for the fraternities/sororities, and quite frankly bad for white Americans in general. I don’t know if people realize this, but this is making international news. Britain, France, Australia, Canada, and I’m sure a few other places that I didn’t check. In fact, if you did a search on Google news for “blackface” a few months ago, you would have been lucky to get one page of results. My most recent search as of 2/12/07 1:50 PM EST indicates that using a “sort by relevance” search there were 15 pages of stories on blackface; using a “sort by date” search there were 72 pages of stories. Keep in mind we are talking about pages here, not stories. Each page caries roughly 10 stories.

Here are the latest incidents:

1. Shirley Q Liquor Minstrel show was heading to Hartford, CT– This is really on old story. Black gay bloggers have been talking about this guy for a while. He performs at white gay establishments, but thanks to community organizing lead by Black LGBT activists, and finally some of their white counterparts have jumped on the bandwagon.

2. Macalester College Students:

A party that asked students to come dressed “politically incorrect” has prompted an investigation by Macalester College officials who learned one student was costumed as a Ku Klux Klan member and another wore blackface with a noose around his neck.

3. Carmen and Jen over at Racialicious have directed my attention to another racially themed party at Arizona University–a dress up as your favorite black person party.

Feb

7

More Blackface–William Jewel College

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Education and Academia, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

This time at William Jewel College:

A freshman at a local college is accused of wearing blackface and walking through a residence hall yelling racial slurs.

Last Wednesday night, one student at William Jewell College is accused of painting his face and hands black, and then jumping from doorways at Eaton Hall and shouting racial slurs for about 30 minutes, officials said. A total of seven students are believed to have been involved.

Dean of Students Rick Winslow said all those accused are white, male freshmen. Eaton Hall is an all-male, primarily freshmen residence hall, Winslow said.

I’m a little confused by the story because it mentions one student, and then says seven are involved.

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