To think 'blacking up' isn't necessarily racist?

[Fabuloo]

Apologies in advance for the Daily Mail link....

this article

I think it's more to do with the intention behind it rather than the 'act'. DD is mixed race and sometimes dresses up in a blonde wig and in the past has put my make up on. My DS is blonde and fair and I would have no problem if he wanted to do the same in reverse. I do feel people need to get a grip...

OldMac I don't tend to engage in discussion with people who choose to use personal insults as a discussion tactic. I prefer to argue the toss in an adult way.

Fiery nobody has said the little is racist.

It's not simply about the fact that white people oppressed black people here,it's the fact they used "blacking up" to mock them.

The footballer in question was not offended. He is not every black person in world. The fact he wasn't offended doesn't mean other won't have been. Some gay men are fine being called a poof by friends,doesn't mean all are okay with it. It's not that hard to work out really.

OldMacEIEIO - Who are you posting to?

*little boy.

PS - do you even know the meaning of "holy fool"? It would seem not. I suggest you look it up before attempting to use it as an insult.

I give up with my phone. It exists purely to smite me.

The point of bringing up Mummers Day is that everyone blacks their faces, and of course, somebody somewhere gets offended by it.
Do you think it's distasteful for a black person to whiten their faces? What about the film 'White Chicks'? Two black men dressed up as white girls for the purposes of entertainment. I'm white and am not remotely offended by that.

I bet you've got lots of black friends, and you call them "nigger" and they call you "whitey" and you all have a good laugh together about it, don't you?

it's the fact they used "blacking up" to mock them.

PLEASE note the word USED! This is thankfully not the world we live in now.
There are always going to be stupid people who seem to think they are better because they are white , straight , thin , tall and whatever else.
When it comes to a young child who has a hero and wants to be like them. In my eyes this proves a step up the ladder of today's world. This poor lad has been slatted and insulted at such a young age and for what ? For wanting to be like his hero. Such a shame.

holyfool - you are not very bright - you jump to a lot of conclusions based on very little evidence

Alis is equally hampered.

get it into your heads - the black guy was not insulted.
do not spend the rest of your energy looking for someone else, somewhere in the world who might have been insulted if something similar might have been said to them in a similar vein on a similar day.

Alisvolatpropiis Not every white person who blacks their face does so to mock black people.

Again, Fiery, I don't get what Mummers day has to do with this issue. You've just said it has nothing to do with trying to look like a black person, so it has nothing to do with this issue.

Black people have never been in a position of power over white people. It is not the same thing.

Whether or not you are personally offended by an issue is also not really important.

and sadly blacking up is still seen as entertainment by some look to austalia's got talent

Black people have never been in a position of power over white people. It is not the same thing.

You should read giles Milton, "White Gold" - about the slave trade - that would be the North African trade in white people .....

""This is the forgotten story of the million white Europeans, snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of North Africa to be sold to the highest bidder. Ignored by their own governments, and forced to endure the harshest of conditions, very few lived to tell the tale.

Using the firsthand testimony of a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow, Giles Milton vividly reconstructs a disturbing, little known chapter of history. Pellow was bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco who was constructing an imperial pleasure palace of enormous scale and grandeur, built entirely by Christian slave labour""

The Barbery Pirates went up as far as Scandanavia - and Cornwall and the south coast of the UK was a very popular place to get your slaves from, by coastal raiding.

If I may pop up I am in a position of power in my job !

The point of bringing up mummers day is that people black their faces for it. Even though it's not to emulate black people, some ignorant people think that is exactly what it is, and get offended by it. People should just stop getting offended on behalf of other people.

Fiery, that is a total logical fallacy.

Some people are offended by one thing does not equal no one should be offended by anything.

HollyBerry, while that is a very sad tale, I doubt anyone would disagree that historically, white people have had vastly more power than non-white people throughout the world for long periods of history.

well said hollyberrybush

some facts and perspective

Let's just get this straight. Are people saying that there is no racism in Britain today and never has been? And that slavery affected white people just as much as black people?

We also skate over that the black slave trade was facilitated in the main by blacks, capturing and selling on other tribe members. A large part of North Africa still uses this practice.

Seeker - good attempt at re framing the debate.

which is

To think 'blacking up' isn't necessarily racist

Are people saying that there is no racism in Britain today and never has been? And that slavery affected white people just as much as black people?

Thats not what i've read, not at all.

I think that probably the reason the boy's parents thought this was OK and didn't consider the possiblity of others seeing racist connotations in it was down to the difference between dressing up as a known individual you admire and dressing up as a stereotype of another race. I think it's fairly likely that other non-Afro-Carribean people have dressed themselves or their DC up as Will.I. Am/Mo Farah/Lenny Henry from time to time and used facepaint as part of the outfit, without having been caught in the act by someone who wanted to start a shitstorm.

And as a general rule I think that going beserk at people who have made a well-intentioned blunder or been a bit thoughtless or poorly informed is a really crap way to promote greater tolerance and understanding. It makes the squawkers feel all good and smug and politically correct and righteous, makes the person who did whatever feel silly and humiliated and angry and sad - and quite often makes members of the group allegedly 'insulted' by whatever it was feel patronized and alienated.

There is history of the people of Russia enslaving Welsh people. Welsh in old English means foreign. Wales means foreign land. We are talking the 9th century.

I'm sorry but the above mentioned bears now relevance to the very recent "blacking up" to mock black people. None.

The little boy isn't racist. His parents should have thought about it a bit more. Everyone knows "blacking up" isn't acceptable. Surely?

I haven't seen anyone go berserk here SolidGold

I also think this focus on the slave trade on this thread is a bit odd: yes, there was slavery in the UK, but that is not the only form that racism takes and it is not the only form of power.