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Is it acceptable to black up your child for a fancy dress parade as Tiger Woods?

85 replies

nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 21:44

Town parade today. One group of children (about 6-8 years old) called the tigers, all dressed as little furry tigers and one dressed as a blacked up golfer. Actual black face paint not brown.

Discuss...

(also, do i need to move?)

OP posts:
hester · 31/07/2010 21:45

Ooh, no.

supersalstrawberry · 31/07/2010 21:45

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thighsmadeofcheddar · 31/07/2010 21:46

FGS no.

supersalstrawberry · 31/07/2010 21:46

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southeastastra · 31/07/2010 21:47

lordy

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 31/07/2010 21:47

Move.

Quickly.

nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 21:47

only been here a year, it's not too late!

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autodidact · 31/07/2010 21:48

Good grief. Where do you live?

nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 21:49

I live in the UK. I think it's 2010.

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nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 21:54

i don't think i want to say where i live.

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squeaver · 31/07/2010 21:58

Oh. My. Goodness.

verylittlecarrot · 31/07/2010 22:05

Please don't give me a pasting for asking this question, but how would you explain to a child why this is unacceptable, particularly if that child emulated and admired Tiger Woods, and really wanted to dress up as him?

How would you articulate it?

maryz · 31/07/2010 22:07

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SharonGless · 31/07/2010 22:07

Good god - am stunned

epithet · 31/07/2010 22:10

I wonder if you're anywhere near me, nevergoogle. I can imagine something similar happening here. In fact, the touristy shop down the road still sells golliwogs, which made me the first time I saw them. (Well, and subsequent times too tbh.)

It's no defence, but historically it's a monocultural area, though slowly becoming more diverse. There are (gasp) three non-white children in dd2's class of 30.

nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 22:10

i doubt very much this was about hero-worshipping on the child's part. this was obviously the work of the parents.

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verylittlecarrot · 31/07/2010 22:16

well, that may well be the case, I agree, nevergoogle. But assuming for the sake of argument that this was an innocent scenario, how do you explain why? I'm not surprised in the slightest at the general consensus, I just wondered if, after the initial "gosh no!" reaction, whether people agreed on the reasons behind this general opinion?

nevergoogle · 31/07/2010 22:20

wouldn't it have been sweet and humorous to have a golfer amongst the group without the black paint though? we would still have got the gag.

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maryz · 31/07/2010 22:21

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MaryMotherOfCheeses · 31/07/2010 22:25

Because the whole "black and white minstrel" thing was much more problematic than ever donning a red wig has been.

edam · 31/07/2010 22:28

wow. That's appalling.

Maryz, because of the history. Horrible Black 'n' White minstrels stuff.

I doubt very much any child is going to ask to wear black face paint to look like a Black person - it's not the same colour, anyway. But if they did, I'd explain that in the olden days nasty people used to wear face paint to make fun of Black people, because the nasty ones thought having white skin made them special. And isn't that silly? But that means wearing black face paint to imitate a Black person might hurt someone's feelings. (And have the whole blue eyes/brown eyes conversation.)

SolidGoldBrass · 31/07/2010 22:28

Hmm, I'm a little ambivalent about this too. Because it's not a matter of blacking your face to portray a generic 'black person', it's about putting on a costume to be a specific person you don't look like. How would everyone feel about a black kid painting his/her face white to be David Beckham?

whomovedmychocolate · 31/07/2010 22:29

Poor kid, I bet none of the others wanted to parade with him and the other parents were v sniffy with him. Parents must be tonto!

maryz · 31/07/2010 22:31

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NonnoMum · 31/07/2010 22:35

But wearing black face paint wouldn't make them look anything like Tiger Woods.

If Barack Obama ever visits, would your town ask all the children to don the black paint then?

Or have we moved on a bit now?

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