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See It: Blackface video roils elite Brooklyn private school

[nydailynews.com]

"In a video clip provided to The News, the two white female students are seen laughing as they jump like primates and mug for the camera with their faces painted black. A third white female student recorded the ape-like antics.

"A parent of one of the girls insisted the pair were not being racist and were not in blackface but only wearing dark makeup; the video was recorded two years ago during a sleepover when the girls were 12 years old; and another student edited and circulated the clip without their knowledge or approval."

(This is in my neighborhood!)

josh_karpf 7 Jan 22
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So ... let me get this straight ... being 12, or having this made public without your consent makes it ... not racist??

It's funny how we white folks simply CANNOT admit to being racist, even when, yeah, we actually unambiguously ARE.

mordant Level 8 Jan 22, 2019
1

While this is disturbing in so many ways, I often wonder why the same people outraged by this are not outraged when their kids make fun of Asians speaking in broken English, allowing young girls to wear white "geisha" make-up as a Halloween costume...as well, the same type of behavior has been accepted for generations as people watched the Lone Ranger and Tonto and women dress in sexualized Native American clothing...is it any wonder the kids are confused and misguided?

How about expanding the bigger picture and just saying making fun or dismissing the cultures of others is not cool...appreciation of the cultures is...

thinktwice Level 8 Jan 22, 2019

While I never did blackface as a child -- I had just enough awareness and moral consciousness to intuit that there was something really wrong with that -- I admit to doing the sing-song accent imitation a couple of times, and that was racist of me and sadly, there were neither peers nor adults in my life to correct me. For me it came mostly from Hollywood stereotypes as there were no Asians in our community (or blacks, or hispanics for that matter) so it appeared to me like I was making fun of people making fun of people making fun of something that maybe wasn't real. It wasn't real to me as a child anyway. That didn't make it right, and ignorance is not an excuse.

Frankly I only figured out in my 40s that Asian's don't like to be called Orientals ... that is how insulated I was. Now I live in a community that is probably at least 20% Asian, have stepchildren who have Asian friends, and I've caught up with reality, at least relatively speaking. I appreciate your informative posts on this topic and more generally on multicultural issues. I'm guessing that I can still improve in my awareness of other cultures, but traveling to places like Vietnam and Turkey as well as the requisite European destinations, has hopefully removed significant residues of "ugly American" out of me. Many of use 'Muricans are terribly parochial and ignorant, and worse, proud of it.

@mordant We also lived in times when immediate access to information and what was acceptable or not was not available...I don't feel guilty or hold any grudges against anyone who in their childhood had no guidance...as adults, we are still learning ; lacking experiences usually continues any hurtful ways...I have found that people who travel or who know a black person, a muslim, a jew, etc. are able to use real information much better than those who read about it, hear about it from others, etc. but that is not always available either....it is evolving for us all and we fine tuning ourselves as we strive to be better people...I am working on consistency because I am guilty of dressing as an Geisha girl in my younger days as a relatively easy costume to pull off...ha ha...

@MoonTiger Not sure what you mean...a paper cut can hurt more than a deep stab wound...so how is different depths of racial hatred measured and made acceptable? It is part of the same pot...you spit in the pot and the entire contents is tainted...

@MoonTiger Thanks for clarifying...I agree...I think it is unrealistic to think we are all going to become totally expunged of our own bias and prejudices...it is much more honest to own up to them and decide that some are not as disturbing as others...I think the biggest difference is how it impacts others...I might hold a fear or misconception about a race, a culture, etc. but unless I am moved to act on that fear in a negative way, it does no harm to others...I see what you mean, and yes, I agree in that context...the "punishment" should fit the crime even if all are crimes....

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