The amazing racist
I saw a woman in full blackface on the way to work today.
I have to admit, when I saw her from across the street, my first thought was, ‘wow, that’s a weird-looking black lady’. It was only when I got closer, and I saw that she was wearing a wig and brown facepaint, fraying around the jawline and lips like an old toothbrush, that I figured out what was going on.
This is actually not that uncommon here, to dress up as A Black Person for a costume or theme party. I’ve always thought of blackface as one of those things that is offensive mainly for how it originated, and everything that symbolizes, but biking past this woman this morning, I think I finally get why it’s so repugnant, even without the American context.
This woman wasn’t dressed up as a ‘70s pimp, or a rapper, or a particular celebrity, or any other group that is usually associated with black people. She was simply dressed up as a black person. That’s it. Black people are so utterly comical to her that it’s appropriate to just put on a kinky wig and paint her face black. No further costume required.
It’s like going to a party dressed as Jew or something. ‘Oh, are you supposed to be a particular Jewish person? Is this a Jerry Seinfeld impression?’ ‘Nope, I’m just a random Jew. That’s enough, right? A demographic group I don’t belong to?’
It’s particularly offensive in the context of Denmark, where most black people are incredibly marginalized, not to mention refugees, meaning they don’t exactly need the extra insult of being openly mocked by a tactless member of the majority. You would only attempt a costume like that if you were absolutely certain there would be no black people at the party. Or, for that matter, anyone who would be offended.
Denmark needs to establish a task force of black people to be dispatched to costume parties, so they can stand in front of Danes wearing blackface and raise their eyebrows, just a little. The ensuing silence would be miles more educational than any speech or billboard campaign.
Comments
I'm black and the issue doesn't particularly offend me. Like RID said, there're honest-to-god issues like how people are treated and costumes are a cosmetic issue, but then I never thought about it like RID did along the lines of "I will go to my next costume party dressed as a white person."
It's not something I'd do and it's not something I'd expect other people to do.
I don't know if your'e serious with this post.. It's hard to see!
I don't see this poster as racism. I look at it every day to work, but it isn't racism! It simply shows the same woman from different big sport-countries (England, Germany eg.), and they maybe included a black person, so that people wouldn't say that they were racists, when they didn't care about blck people.
I'm not going to comment on whether it's actually offensive. I know that in the USA it would definitely be considered offensive, not only because of slavery, Jim Crow, and all that shit, but because of the history of blackface itself: blackface has often been used by white entertainers as a way to either appropriate or mock black culture. However Denmark doesn't share that history, so maybe black Danes feel otherwise. I'd ask one, if I knew any ...
The analogy with "dressing as a Jew" is informative precisely because it doesn't really work. What would "dressing as a Jew" entail? Full streimel and beard isn't "dressing as a Jew" but "dressing as a hassid", whereas putting on a giant throatwobbler-mangrove nose is pretty obviously offensive. The point being that generally speaken you can't identify Jews by looks.
Incidentally, this thread reminds me of my first halloween party in Denmark after moving here from Colorado. A group came as "Red Indians", complete with face paint, rubber tomahawks, and war-whoops. I just kept my mouth shut, but it was weird to see something like that having just come from a place where a costume like that would have got you ostracised, or in extreme case beaten up and/or arrested.
I'm from the U.S. and I really don't think dressing up as an Indian would get you beat up/arrested..
But wouldn't that be like someone dressing up as a Viking here? I don't think the Danes would get upset about that...
This is not "a woman across the street", this is an ad for a betting service. The copy says to bet on "those you believe in" (weird choice of words) at the soccer world championships, and the whole (friggin') point of the ad is to show caricatures of people from different countries / parts of the world. Caricatures, i.e. comically exaggerated representations.
In Denmark there's no word for "blackface". A face painted black doesn't have the cultural connotations you obviously have for it. I don't know if people in Cameroon (or whichever African country qualified for the championships) would share your particular cultural connotations if they saw the picture.
Are you objecting to how Danes see people from Africa represented based on American cultural sensibilities? Is that two or three degrees of cultural imperialism? :-)
By the way, the only (potential) wigs I can see in the ad are the blond braid on top of the German(?) stereotype girl's head and the Pippi Longstocking braids on what I can only assume is supposed to be "dumb Swedish blond".
Cheers from a Great Dane in Vancouver,
Jan Karlsbjerg
http://www.jankarlsbjerg.com