To find this disturbing for a number of reasons....

[Tinlegs]

Photograph, posted on Facebook (and, therefore, in my eyes, endorsed) by a teacher of a group of people dressed up for Halloween. One person, "blacked up" (face mask, brownish make up on neck etc) one person "whitened up" (face mask, White make up) and a third person, also made up but in a brown colour. "Black man" wearing track suit, trainers and lots and lots of jewellery. "White woman" in curlers, Primark hoodie, track suit bottoms, heels. "Brown person" (an adult) in a child's buggy with a bottle, dummy and carrying what looks like a lunch box.

AIBU to think that this is racist and stereotyping of the worst kind. That they are dressed as a mixed race "chav" (not a word I would use but...) low income family who bottle feeds their baby, dresses badly and pushes a very old child around, who are all overweight etc.

Now I know these people. The area we live in is NOT at all multi cultural so there is unlikely to have been anyone offended at the party. But I am offended.

FWIW at least one of these people works with children on a daily basis.

Mumsnet, over to you.

Cjel - I aim to please. I try not to get drawn into stuff like this because (as you've seen) it pushes my buttons something chronic.

I'm off to find threads about fluffy kittens now!

Goodnight all.

mylovelyboy - you stay classy, now

x

Mylovelyboy if you don't realise how offensive your comments and your vocabulary are I think it would take more time than I have available to explain it to you.

Heart really?? Even I find Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson offensive, I think everyone nowadays would!!!

What were talking about is not that - look at the little Britain sketches, who ever saw them as racist??? That's David Walliams 'Blacking up' ???? Who complained about him???

taffleee not many complained i should imagine. MNers are very secular in their views. Threads like this you cannot win. There are alot of people on here that will be offended by someone farting 100 yards down the street. They have a tendency to go overboard and do not like others opinions unless it suits them. We are not racist one bit. We are logical and realistic and do not take life too seriously. Good night and thanks for support x

I'm mixed race. Black dad, white mum.

I don't like the sound of that costume. It sounds like the horrible stereotype of uneducated, young white women who chase black men and say guff like "I want a black baby." It's what people used to assume my mum was like when I was at primary school, when other kid's parents didn't want them to play with me.

But I might be too close to the topic to be subjective.

koala what?? no way. How old are you may I ask.

Thankfully, mylovelyboy, most civilised people recognise that racist and offensive views and activities (like blacking up) are precisely the sort of things that should be taken seriously.

What does it matter what age Koalaface is?

I don't buy the actor example at all - part of the requirement for a role is surely that an actor looks like a character? e.g. if you wanted a bouncer type, you'd get someone broad-shouldered and mean-looking - that role wouldn't go to Rhys Ifans. So, if I wanted someone to play a black character, I'd cast someone who was black, surely? Unless you're talking the very cringiest end of am-dram (i.e. a very white community trying to put on a multi-racial show).

I'm 28. I was the only mixed race child at my school. No black or asian kids either. Not that it should have made a difference.

Snorting at Mylovelyboy and taffleee being logical and realistic, and a bastion of reasoned debate.

educated, me too

I was asking her age because as has been pointed out previously back in the 60's and 70's and 80's things like this were really really bad. koala must have been horrible for you. that type of thing is totally wrong. I see you are new to this post. As i have said many times. We are all equal human beings as far as i am concerned. What ever colour we are. this thread did get out of hand and i have been accused of being racist which i most definatly am not. It is horrible you went through that. Not only for you but for your family as well. I think this costume business could be perceived as racist by some as seen on this post. I think it was not done to offend anyone intentionally. Although alot see it as offensive. I gave the Michael Jackson example of dressing up and being blacked as a symbol of him. A person a lot of people admired. A black man. I thought that was acceptable as it would show him for what he was. A black artist. I think people found me offensive in saying this was ok. Dont know what you think about that.

EduCated I think their demonstrations of ignorance and th lack of personal empathy they display indicate that there are still significant minorities who revel in their lack of awareness.

I can't remember whether it was tafflee or mylovelyboy but I'm still guffawing at whichever one said that it was dangerous for white people to be offended by something which was meant to offend blacks, or somesuch

Couple of jokers.

Edu its people like you who constantly goad which makes threads like this turn into an argument. Have your say on the matter, but silly snide remarks are childish

NO, i'm so in disagreement with you calling lovely a racist - in no way has she made any comments that are racist at all -

We live in a multi-cultured society, and there are lots of us that are fully integrated and have friends from a wide variety of backgrounds, colours, religeons, whatever!!!

We couldn't care less about 'dressing up'!! In fact we do so often on nights out (and me and my mates come from every single background you could mention!!!, )

Racist is a term that should be kept for people who HATE people from different backgrounds, black, white, whatever - not people who just dress up, with no harm intended???

I've been reading this thread with something niggling me, mylovely you remind me of someone. Always used to post racist and homophobic crap then be all disingenuous about it. Got banned in the end. Daft punk was the name. Strange, eh??

Yup, ilovesooty, it would seem so.

Music if was me actually. It is dangerous because a lot of white people do stir it up. Alot of black people do not get offended by things. A lot of the time its white people that THINK black people do. And they actually dont.

Janine I think it is relevant what age Koala is, when I hear "I want a brown/black baby" I immediately think of the Harry Enfield sketches. I just googled Waynetta Slob and it was 1990 that those sketches were popular and widespread - this would be around the time Koala was at primary school, and not so long after Jim Davidson et al lost popularity so quite an offensive time comedically.

It is clearly disgusting that Koala (and her family)had to endure that sort of shit when she was so young and is/was inexcusable, but perceived as "ok" presumably by those people who subjected them to this treatment due to the popularity at that time of this particular comedy sketch.

I'd like to think that this sort of thing doesn't happen nowadays, although I'm sure it still does.

Koala, the OP said further down that the costume was actually probably supposed to be Kanye West & Kim Kardashian with North, and they were wearing masks not 'blacked up' if that puts a different light on it for you. (Not trying to minimise it, but pointing out it wasn't the mixed race family/'underclass' offensive piss take costume that she originally thought).

rosa i have never said anything racist on this post. My only deleted posts were the goady ones whereby i was stick up for myself.

I think for me it comes down to intentions.

Dressing up like Michael Jackson or The Three Degrees is just a costume of a famous person (blacking up always looks stupid though, don't know why anyone would bother).

Dressing up like a racial stereotype is racist.

Don't really see why people are confusing the two?

what if on one of you fun dressing up nights when you or your friends have blacked up faces and someone comes up to you, a black woman and tells you that she feels very offended by what you made up in such a way

are you going to tell her well it is all a bit of fun lighten and that she has no right to be

my lovely , you have been talking shite all night, been particularly patronising dont worry black people, you should be proud of your colour and now you want to bollock a poster for being goa