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.

[ConfusedPixie]

Yes taflee, if it involved them blacking up it was racist, there is a historical context to blacking up that cannot be ignored. Like golliwogs are racist because of their historical context.

[Heartbrokenmum73]

Can you read?

That's not an opinion - that's just rude.

Taffleee - you didn't answer my question. Did your brother and his mates black up for their fancy dress? And why did they feel need to dress up as black people? I wouldn't feel the need to dress up as Janet Jackson or Halle Berry unless I was trying to provoke an argument.

[Mylovelyboy]

Confused there is racism. I would like to think of us all as equal. I do think we are equal as individuals no matter what colour we are. Ok some people out there do not. But what can we do about it. Take to the fuking streets. It will never change. But to be offended by a silly costume is pathetic. If they turned up in wheel chairs dribbling then fair enough. What is wrong with changing the colour of your skin for a costume. Fucking joke

[taffleee]

Oh get a grip people, Heatbroken yes they did 'black up', as you called it!! They were dressed as the 'Jackson 5'!!!! They also had afros and sang songs (can I just say, two of his mates where also black, and I'm pretty sure if they felt 'racially insulted' they wouldn't have joined in the fun, or afro wigs lol).

There were also 15 of them, should we be knocking them for their inability to 'add up'???

[Mylovelyboy]

Heartbroken why does taffleee have to answer that. So what if they did black their faces. At least if they did then people would know who they were dressing as. Its the Jackson Five not bloody Hitler Jeez

[monicalewinski]

It was apparently supposed to be Kim, Kanye & North, not 'stereo typical underclass chavs' (OP said further up), which is presumably the reason for the blacking up. The OP also said they were wearing masks, with coloured make-up on the necks, not full face make up (I would assume the masks were Kim and Kanye)

I wouldn't find that particularly offensive as it is dressing up as a current celeb situation tbh.

I personally find blacking up being offensive if it is done in such a way as to the blacking up being the 'joke' if you see what I mean, but if the blacking up is as a part of the costume then not so much (eg the mister T example), I also don't find it remotely amusing to 'dress as a chav'.

[Heartbrokenmum73]

mylovelyboy

Are you really that blinkered?

Firstly, those of us who witnessed your lovely tirade against your neighbour on the other thread know full well that you don't believe we're all equal because if you did you wouldn't have been banging on about 'fuking' (can you spell ) immigrants getting everything handed to them like sweets.

Secondly, if it was okay to black up, why don't we see it on television anymore? Why did they stop making The Black and White Minstrel Show? Anything to do with equality, by any chance? To do with moving forward?

[Mylovelyboy]

heartbroken it would only be made into an argument if you started one. And i think if you did you would make yourself look like a complete idiot

[Heartbrokenmum73]

So they blacked up and there's nothing offensive about that in 2013?

And there were two black people with them? Of course there were. Are some of your best friends black too?

I suspect sock-puppeting...

[ConfusedPixie]

Why is it okay to be offended by somebody taking the piss out of disabled people but not taking the piss out of people who are not white?

You also said earlier that you found Little Britain amusing, you do realise that they take the piss out of disabled people in that right? By your argument, what's wrong with sitting in a wheelchair dribbling for a 'costume'?

Black people accepting their mates blacking up does not make it okay to black up taflee

[BakeOLiteGirl]

I was only thinking about white people blacking up yesterday. When I was very young at the end of the seventies, someone blacked my face up as part of a costume. I felt terrible thinking about it. There was no need and I had no choice. I felt glad that it was something no longer considered acceptable and yet here we are.

I was wondering what black people would have made of it. Would they have been insulted or just thought us idiots.

Fun fancy dress is one thing but blacking up is something else.

[ConfusedPixie]

I'd suspect sock puppeting too if they weren't posting within 30 seconds of one another. I am actually afraid to think that they are two RL people who hold these beliefs, which is unfortunate but many people do :(

[garlicbutter]

I've skipped the last two pages, as I reckon I know what they said. Tinlegs, imo you nailed it when you called it dressing up as a "type". People simply shouldn't do this because it is always offensive. Ask yourselves why it's funny, and the answer is always going to be a version of "I am not like this inferior type of person, and the humour lies in our shared view that I'm superior." Tarty nurse, axe-wielding mental patient, chav family, sexy schoolgirl, pimp, prostitute ... they're all debasements of a class of people you deem inferior.

I once 'browned up' for a fancy dress party where I wore a borrowed sari. In hindsight, I should have left out the brown makeup, but at least I wasn't ridiculing Hindu people. There are loads of fancy dress options that don't involve putting other folk down.

[Heartbrokenmum73]

Wow - two thick racists have found one another on MN - a story to tug at the heartstrings this Christmas.

[Mylovelyboy]

Heartbroken did you not see the show Come Fly With Me with David Walliams and Matt Lucas. They blacked up. Black cleaner, muslim bloke working at airport, black lady behind the tea/cake counter. Now tell me people dont black up anymore. Little Britain - Bubbles DeVere Get it now

[taffleee]

Oh, I've just also been informed by my bessie mate, three were of 'asian' decent and two mixed race!! Omg, what a racist outgoing!!

[FreudiansSlipper]

so Mylovelyboy if someone has told you that they find something offensive, in this case blacking up, why do you think it is your right to tell them that they have no need to be offended, what they feel is wrong do you know themselves better than they do

i am having a deja vu moment here

[ConfusedPixie]

[ConfusedPixie]

Your only examples are the idiots behind Little Britain....

[Heartbrokenmum73]

mylovelyboy - yeah, still doesn't make it right though.

And what's a 'bessie mate' and 'asian decent'

[ConfusedPixie]

And as somebody of Asian 'decent', I find it offensive.

[taffleee]

Being dressed as the 'Jackson 5', by a whole lot of people from various race back grounds on a stag night is hardly an example of racism!! Quite the opposite actually!!!

[Heartbrokenmum73]

KingRollo - Kanye West is black, Kim Kardashian is mixed-race - neither of them are using too much fake tan.

[Mylovelyboy]

If it was that offensive it would not have been shown on tv