If you’re planning to dress up in blackface for Halloween, here’s a last-minute tip: DON’T. DO. IT!
Entertainment
Blackface is a huge no-no. As in HELL no-no! In case you’re unaware of its origins or why blackface for Halloween or at any time by anyone ever should NEVER happen, here’s a quick history lesson.
“Blackface” is the use of black makeup designed to portray a Black person in a negative way. In the 1800s, White actors would rub shoe polish or greasepaint on their faces and perform minstrel shows in order to impersonate and act out racist stereotypes and dehumanize Black Americans. In modern times, non-whites took the use of blackface as a joke and began wearing blackface in talent shows and during Halloween in order to depict someone black.
Wearing blackface is hurtful and considered racist because it is regularly used to create a caricature of Blacks by exaggerating their skin as charcoal black, their eyes as large as saucers, and their lips abnormally huge. Historically it’s also been used to perpetuate the fallacy that Black people are inferior to white people.
So, what if you don’t consider yourself racist and you only want to wear blackface for Halloween as a joke and to create a character?
The answer is still a resounding NO!
“Blackface minstrelsy first became nationally popular in the late 1820s when white male performers portrayed African-American characters using burnt cork to blacken their skin. Wearing tattered clothes, the performances mocked black behavior, playing racial stereotypes for laughs. … Minstrelsy desensitized Americans to horrors of chattel slavery. These performances were object lessons about the harmlessness of southern slavery. By encouraging audiences to laugh, they showed bondage as an appropriate answer for the lazy, ignorant slave. Why worry about the abolition of slavery when black life looked so fun, silly, and carefree?” – Blair L.M. Kelley, author “A Brief History of Blackface”
You can’t separate blackface from its history of oppression just for a cheap laugh or to win a costume contest. Not only is it not the right thing to do, but its ramifications can follow you for years down the road.
Just ask Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, Actor Ted Danson, Virginia, Attorney General Mark R. Herring, and a host of others how blackface on Halloween, or during a talent contest, or at any time turned out to be a bad idea that now follows them for the rest of their lives.
So, heed the advice. NO BLACKFACE. EVER! Not only is it racist, but it’s just not worth it!
And let the Church say AAAMEN! Thanks for this DJ. As I’ve expressed before…I’m baffled by the fact that even in more recent times a number of White people still feel the need to engage in such reprehensible behavior. Honestly, I’ve now come to believe it very likely that, for many if not most of those people, the root cause runs deeper than just white supremacy. I think it’s Black envy AND jealousy. Look at Us. WE are an incredibly Gifted and Blessed people. God has been with Us every step of the way. How else could WE have made it this far!?! Over generations, WE as a people (slaves and descendants of slaves) have endured much. And yet still WE Rise…..and Excel in the face of it all. WE are so rich in Culture, Our foods, Our *cool.* Our Soulfulness, Our command of the Arts. Our physical abilities AND… Read more »