there seems to be a sharp spike of fuckery in the world.
And yes, I do mean fuckery.
It started last week.
A white woman in Australia celebrated her 21st birthday.
Innocent enough until you hear it was African themed.
Yes, it was as bad as you might imagine. Worst, actually.
These Australians dressed in daishikis; they wore black face;
they wore warrior paint and painted their bodies black;
some even wore Native American headdresses.
Now, I've never been to Australia,but are they really that culturally unaware?
The headdresses were the kicker for me.
No. I lied. It was the klansman. What even? Why? Why?!
Dear Australians and all other
non-dark skinned people around the globe,
you can attend an African themed event
without a smear of black paint across your cheek.
For goodness sake, some of you wore war paint and black paint on your skin.
That's not necessary!
Any and everyone would have gotten your costume without black face/skin.
There are even villages of white people in Africa. Did anyone dress up as a missionary or social worker at this party?
Expand your minds, evaluate your choices, and learn to be racially sensitive.
As you see, just because no one was there to be mad in the moment
doesn't mean there won't be a backlash waiting in the wings.
But no, oh no. That's not all.The shenanigans continued that weekend
as folks got into the Halloween spirit.
The usual suspects were easy to find:
vampires, werewolves, wrecking balls running away from Miley Cyrus.
But a few decided to up their ghosts and spooks game up.
A pair of white guys thought up the perfect Halloween costume:
George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.
The guy dressed as Trayvon Martin would of course have to dress in black face and have a bloody gunshot hole in his hoodie.
You could add Skittles and an Arizona Iced Tea, but only if you were willing to go the extra mile.
And though the Trayvon pictured here doesn't have those items, other white men who picked the same costume did.
I'm unsure as to why this seemed like a good idea,
but let me just make it clear for you as your adoptive black friend,
it's not.
Black face aside, you are making light of a tragedy.
A very recent tragedy, one with so much racial tension behind it.
Rule of thumb, don't go as a murdered person.
The only funny or clever murder costumes involve zombies.
...oh gawd, if I see a Zombie Trayvon Martin, white or black, I'll lose it.
And not in a good way.
Let's think about it.
Dressing up as a dead Trayvon Martin is virtually
the same as someone walking around with a burnt yamaka
and calling themselves a Holocaust survivor.
It's not funny. It's not cool. It's offensive.
On the same note, I'm not a big fan of Anne Frank costumes, either.
Maybe let's chill out with that as well.
I have to admit, however, those two events are not the cause of this post.
No, I came across a photo on Twitter today that was just plain wrong.
Four white men came together to form a Jim Crow quartet.
Looking at the photo again forced my left palm to my forehead, and now I must type the remainder of this blog with one hand.
But seriously, what is this malarkey?
I thought it was agreed blatant racism was over.
Black face aside again, Jim Crow was a minstrel.
It was a big slap in black America's face.
Racist to its core with no way around it.
So why would you ever dress up as a damn minstrel
if you aren't performing a rendition of Spike Lee's Bamboozled?
"Oh, my great grandpappy was a minstrel, so I'm paying homage to him."
Oh, so you come from a line of ignorant bigots.
Thanks for that insight into your back story.
[That's not what any of them said, but I can just hear it.]
Now, I'm no stranger to face paint on Halloween.
I myself have donned white face in order to portray
Dave Chappelle's news anchor character Chuck Taylor.
But there were no racial undertones or history behind it.
I just wanted to be radical and throw off white people one year.
While I was out dressed like that,
I saw a white guy in a Rastafarian get up
with black or brown face on.
I really wish I had said something, anything,
but I didn't think I had the leverage.
A young fool, I was.
I attended a party this weekend,
not even a Halloween party,
but I wore my "I'm happy to be here" mask anyway.
It turned out to be a bunch of white kids from my college
that I haven't seen in years.
And almost instantly I was "that black guy" again.
A guy or two were so friendly towards me, it was annoying.
They complimented my clothing, said I was cool,
how they could never pull off what I wore or did.
Then a white friend told me, "All white people wish they were black."
I scoffed at his lame joke, but I'm starting to wonder
what if it's not a joke.
White people in the media have been under fire lately
for appropriating black culture and making a mockery of it.
But what if they're sincere?
What if they admire us so much they want to be us,
so much so they don't realize how ridiculous or racist they're being?
Does it excuse their behavior? No, I don't believe so.
It's been said that white people love black culture, not black people.
However, there should be fewer pitchforks and torches
and more open conversations, no matter how frustrating they can be.
Some white people will never learn if we don't talk to them,
my fellow Americans (Australians, etc.) of color.
Otherwise, we'll just continue to suffer
throbbing forehead veins until the end of time.
Word
