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This is what has, in the wake of recent scandals, changed regarding blackface and perceptions of it

Xelor

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In recent weeks and months, there's been quite a bit said about the matter of white folks in the modern era having donned blackface. As I sat here thinking about the behavior, it occurred to me that some things about it have changed and some others have not.
  • What's changed:
    • White folks -- particularly those who've long been able to remain circumstantially or willfully ignorant about blackface and what it means, its impacts, its historical extants and uses, the fears, disappointments, frustrations and doubts it invoked in the past and now, etc. -- are finally becoming understood, at least intellectually. I doubt that there's any behavioral correlate that will allow any white person to "get it" empathetically; however, the newly realized sympathetic capacity ever more whites are developing is a step forward from what it was even just a lustrum ago.
    • Blackface seems to no longer be a funny thing, a thing that is fodder for "all in good fun."
  • What's not changed:
    • Black folks' anger, frustration, fear, dismay and opprobrium over seeing their white countrymen belittle them by donning blackface. This should not change, so it's good that it hasn't.
    • Black's/minorities' awareness that racism, bigotry and race-based discrimination and its perpetuators aren't merely jerks running around with pointy white hats and swastikas.

      Black folks ceasely been saying that racism and its effects are "alive and real" and not just in overt ways, and so-called reasonable folks on the right and left have denigrated, denied and discounted the verity of Blacks' assertions thus. Perhaps with the recent revelations from VA's governor and AG, more folks will believe them.

      As one of my Black friends say, "Racism and homosexuality are both mostly in the closet." While Black folks know that to be so -- How can they not having 400+ years of experience recognizing it? -- far too many white folks act and speak as though it's not.

      And let's be clear. Black folks don't think every white person is racist. They think every white person who gives them a reason tho think so is a racist. Of course, not all white folks give Blacks a reason to think so, but even in 2019, far too many do.
A key part of the problem of racism is, of course, that it's not easy to tell who is and who isn't, and there are plenty of plausible so-called "explanations" for behavior that to Blacks is pretty obviously race-driven, but that to many whites, whether or not they in fact harbor some sort of racist sentiments, can be argued/accepted as not so. It'd be different were racists to have forehead warts that disappear as they racist notions and feelings dissipate, but that's not how it works.
 
I also have to say that there is a mob mentality, so to speak in many of these situations. For example, college fraternities often have donned blackface or did questionable stunts for pledging. You either do it or dont get in. Now sure some kids are brave and say "screw that" but for others its peer pressure. Not sure if the VA cases are like this but I have seen it happen. We recently had racist incidents at a local college and it was due to "pledge week." The kids felt they had to.
 
I also have to say that there is a mob mentality, so to speak in many of these situations. For example, college fraternities often have donned blackface or did questionable stunts for pledging. You either do it or dont get in. Now sure some kids are brave and say "screw that" but for others its peer pressure. Not sure if the VA cases are like this but I have seen it happen. We recently had racist incidents at a local college and it was due to "pledge week." The kids felt they had to.

Amazing how places of higher learning go so low with the dumb sometimes.
 
In recent weeks and months, there's been quite a bit said about the matter of white folks in the modern era having donned blackface. As I sat here thinking about the behavior, it occurred to me that some things about it have changed and some others have not.
  • What's changed:
    • White folks -- particularly those who've long been able to remain circumstantially or willfully ignorant about blackface and what it means, its impacts, its historical extants and uses, the fears, disappointments, frustrations and doubts it invoked in the past and now, etc. -- are finally becoming understood, at least intellectually. I doubt that there's any behavioral correlate that will allow any white person to "get it" empathetically; however, the newly realized sympathetic capacity ever more whites are developing is a step forward from what it was even just a lustrum ago.
    • Blackface seems to no longer be a funny thing, a thing that is fodder for "all in good fun."
  • What's not changed:
    • Black folks' anger, frustration, fear, dismay and opprobrium over seeing their white countrymen belittle them by donning blackface. This should not change, so it's good that it hasn't.
    • Black's/minorities' awareness that racism, bigotry and race-based discrimination and its perpetuators aren't merely jerks running around with pointy white hats and swastikas.

      Black folks ceasely been saying that racism and its effects are "alive and real" and not just in overt ways, and so-called reasonable folks on the right and left have denigrated, denied and discounted the verity of Blacks' assertions thus. Perhaps with the recent revelations from VA's governor and AG, more folks will believe them.


      As one of my Black friends say, "Racism and homosexuality are both mostly in the closet." While Black folks know that to be so -- How can they not having 400+ years of experience recognizing it? -- far too many white folks act and speak as though it's not.

      And let's be clear. Black folks don't think every white person is racist. They think every white person who gives them a reason tho think so is a racist. Of course, not all white folks give Blacks a reason to think so, but even in 2019, far too many do.
A key part of the problem of racism is, of course, that it's not easy to tell who is and who isn't, and there are plenty of plausible so-called "explanations" for behavior that to Blacks is pretty obviously race-driven, but that to many whites, whether or not they in fact harbor some sort of racist sentiments, can be argued/accepted as not so. It'd be different were racists to have forehead warts that disappear as they racist notions and feelings dissipate, but that's not how it works.

Totally emotional. No one can point to a single way anyone was actually victimized by Northam, unless he was their mother's doctor maybe
 
Any college group, fraternity et al, that in this day and age is using "peer pressure" to have pledges don or act in blackface or other racist-racial stereotypical behaviors needs to be suspended and possibly removed from the campus.
 
I also have to say that there is a mob mentality, so to speak in many of these situations. For example, college fraternities often have donned blackface or did questionable stunts for pledging. You either do it or dont get in. Now sure some kids are brave and say "screw that" but for others its peer pressure. Not sure if the VA cases are like this but I have seen it happen. We recently had racist incidents at a local college and it was due to "pledge week." The kids felt they had to.

Yes, I suppose there are a lot of craven and insecure people in the world.


The party doesn't start until I get there.
-- Something I and my college and young adult friends still say from time to time. I taught my kids to believe it about themselves too.​
 
In recent weeks and months, there's been quite a bit said about the matter of white folks in the modern era having donned blackface. As I sat here thinking about the behavior, it occurred to me that some things about it have changed and some others have not.
  • What's changed:
    • White folks -- particularly those who've long been able to remain circumstantially or willfully ignorant about blackface and what it means, its impacts, its historical extants and uses, the fears, disappointments, frustrations and doubts it invoked in the past and now, etc. -- are finally becoming understood, at least intellectually. I doubt that there's any behavioral correlate that will allow any white person to "get it" empathetically; however, the newly realized sympathetic capacity ever more whites are developing is a step forward from what it was even just a lustrum ago.
    • Blackface seems to no longer be a funny thing, a thing that is fodder for "all in good fun."
  • What's not changed:
    • Black folks' anger, frustration, fear, dismay and opprobrium over seeing their white countrymen belittle them by donning blackface. This should not change, so it's good that it hasn't.
    • Black's/minorities' awareness that racism, bigotry and race-based discrimination and its perpetuators aren't merely jerks running around with pointy white hats and swastikas.

      Black folks ceasely been saying that racism and its effects are "alive and real" and not just in overt ways, and so-called reasonable folks on the right and left have denigrated, denied and discounted the verity of Blacks' assertions thus. Perhaps with the recent revelations from VA's governor and AG, more folks will believe them.

      As one of my Black friends say, "Racism and homosexuality are both mostly in the closet." While Black folks know that to be so -- How can they not having 400+ years of experience recognizing it? -- far too many white folks act and speak as though it's not.

      And let's be clear. Black folks don't think every white person is racist. They think every white person who gives them a reason tho think so is a racist. Of course, not all white folks give Blacks a reason to think so, but even in 2019, far too many do.
A key part of the problem of racism is, of course, that it's not easy to tell who is and who isn't, and there are plenty of plausible so-called "explanations" for behavior that to Blacks is pretty obviously race-driven, but that to many whites, whether or not they in fact harbor some sort of racist sentiments, can be argued/accepted as not so. It'd be different were racists to have forehead warts that disappear as they racist notions and feelings dissipate, but that's not how it works.

IMHO, it's that (bolded above) loophole which is being seen as the (politically?) plausible out. The idea that positions (ethics and/or morality?) evolve and that no photographic (or personal admission) examples of such racist behavior can be proven to exist for over 30 years.
 
Amazing how places of higher learning go so low with the dumb sometimes.

They do it in the name of tradition. Especially big private colleges or the Ivies. Its a lot of pressure if your dad went there and then you do and are expected to be in his shadow. It leads to a lot of bad decisions. What gets me is the upper admin must know this as many went there too. Yet its allowed to continue.
 
Totally emotional. No one can point to a single way anyone was actually victimized by Northam, unless he was their mother's doctor maybe

Wow...

Baby, racism and its effects aren't only about victimization. It's every bit as much about trust.
 
Any college group, fraternity et al, that in this day and age is using "peer pressure" to have pledges don or act in blackface or other racist-racial stereotypical behaviors needs to be suspended and possibly removed from the campus.

By who? As I said above, the admin likely went there too or another similar place and in all likelihood did the same things. Fraternities in particular have decades of these "traditions." Which is why whenever I hear a colleague or some CEO talk about their fraternity days all I think of is "what horrible things did you do?"
 
Totally emotional. No one can point to a single way anyone was actually victimized by Northam, unless he was their mother's doctor maybe

Sure, and no one can point to a single way any non slave owning Founding Father or other freeborn American, in pre-civil war America, actually victimized blacks.
 
By who? As I said above, the admin likely went there too or another similar place and in all likelihood did the same things. Fraternities in particular have decades of these "traditions." Which is why whenever I hear a colleague or some CEO talk about their fraternity days all I think of is "what horrible things did you do?"

Removed by college authorities who have that power.

Tradition be damned!
 
This isnt racism but still applies to the topic. This is an example of what the locals call "tradition."

"Graduates of the prestigious New Hampshire prep school have included six congressmen, more than a dozen American ambassadors and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. But a rape trial underway this week has brought unwanted attention to the elite St. Paul's School in Concord, where a campus tradition known as the "Senior Salute" has come under fire for allegedly encouraging seniors to have sexual encounters with as many younger female students as possible."

https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/us/new-hampshire-prep-scandal/index.html
 
Wow...

Baby, racism and its effects aren't only about victimization. It's every bit as much about trust.

Trust? What does that even mean?
 
Sure, and no one can point to a single way any non slave owning Founding Father or other freeborn American, in pre-civil war America, actually victimized blacks.

True. What's your point?
 
IMHO, it's that (bolded above) loophole which is being seen as the (politically?) plausible out. The idea that positions (ethics and/or morality?) evolve and that no photographic (or personal admission) examples of such racist behavior can be proven to exist for over 30 years.
??? Do one really need folks to run around and commit overtly racist acts and utter overtly racist remarks for one to know they're racists? I should hope not.
  • If one doesn't see a bear **** in the woods, does one not know it will and does?
  • If the street before one's home is wet, is one's first thought that someone poured water all over the place? Or does one reason that it rained?
"Smoking gun" types of proof are nice to have, but if one lives one's live demanding and expecting that as the standard by which one can believe anything is so, one's going to live in an everlasting state of delusion. There's a reason we're taught to make cogent inductive arguments (and recognize incogent ones); the pervasive absence of "smoking gun" evidence is it.
 
True. What's your point?

^^^Example of exactly why reprehensible behavior can become condoned, ensconced, if not also revered "tradition".^^^

Too many people just don't get it!
 
^^^Example of exactly why reprehensible behavior can become condoned, ensconced, if not also revered "tradition".^^^

Too many people just don't get it!

I didn't call anything tradition. You're not making any arguments, just word salads.
 
What changed? Two Democrat stars just got slammed for it.
 
I also have to say that there is a mob mentality, so to speak in many of these situations. For example, college fraternities often have donned blackface or did questionable stunts for pledging. You either do it or dont get in. Now sure some kids are brave and say "screw that" but for others its peer pressure. Not sure if the VA cases are like this but I have seen it happen. We recently had racist incidents at a local college and it was due to "pledge week." The kids felt they had to.

mob mentality ...... college fraternities .... pledging ...... peer pressure ..... pledge week ....... racist incidents ....

one more and we have the modern version of the seven deadly sins.
 
You still don't get it.

So sad, even after I laid it out for ya!

You laid out nothing. You haven’t communicated how anyone was harmed by the year book picture 30 years ago


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Time and time again, Greek organizations have been sites of overt racism on Dartmouth’s campus. In 1988, Chi Gamma Epsilon and Alpha Xi Delta hosted a “Ghetto Party,” which involved Afro wigs and toy guns. In 2013, Alpha Delta and Delta Delta Delta hosted a “Bloods and Crips” Party that more than 200 students attended, trivializing gang violence. Until 2014, Alpha Phi and Phi Delta Alpha hosted an annual philanthropic event called “Phiesta.” These are just a few examples that show how the Greek system at Dartmouth is no stranger to the exploitation of cultures and the promotion of racist stereotypes. In 2013, the administration even admitted that Dartmouth does not have a policy prohibiting themed parties and events, maintaining the institution’s complacency in the perpetuation of racism in social events and Greek spaces. As a result, Dartmouth students planning and normalizing these culturally insensitive events in a majority white Greek system actively disregards their peers and any consideration of how these party themes might make others feel. This maintains that the Dartmouth Greek system was not meant for and is not a safe space for students of color.

https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/lesttheoldtraditionsfail/2016/05/27/pair-8/
 
Any college group, fraternity et al, that in this day and age is using "peer pressure" to have pledges don or act in blackface or other racist-racial stereotypical behaviors needs to be suspended and possibly removed from the campus.

Except for that whole "free speech" thing.
 
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