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I must've missed the memo that declared hanging nooses and white college kids donning blackface cool and in vogue.See, the funny thing is ... it's really not that funny ... at all. It's actually quite racist, but members of the football team at a Minnesota school decided to give it the old' college try anyway:
Hamline University has suspended six players from its football team for donning blackface and body paint to dress up as African tribesmen for an off-campus Halloween party, an incident that has sparked a discussion about racial sensitivity at the St. Paul liberal arts college. [...] Two cheerleaders who helped the players with their costumes and reportedly posted photos of them on the Internet social-networking site Facebook with a caption about "spooks" are also under investigation.
Once again, not that amusing. Dressing up like a slutty nurse, skanky cop or dirty [enter noun] for Halloween will make a few people chuckle here and there. Being an idiot who sports blackface then posts the pics on Facebook, that's just a little sick. (Note: not funny.)
Like those who hung nooses in the Jena Six case, the Minnesota students in blackface defend their actions by saying things such as it was only supposed to be a "joke" and that they're not racist, but "misunderstood." (All while probably thinking, "I have a black friend, I can't be racist.")
What's there to misunderstand? You went to a Halloween party sporting a symbol of racism on your face. What? Did you also think 'Schindler's List' was a comedy?
Concluding that Kevin Federline is Father of the Year because he is slightly more responsible than Britney Spears. Misunderstanding.
Assuming Dr. Dre is a physician trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice some type of medicine. Misunderstanding.
Wearing blackface or hanging up a noose as a "joke"? Dumb and racist.
In Minnesota and elsewhere, this isn't the first time students masquerading as blacks have stirred up controversy.
Early this year, Macalester College in St. Paul condemned an incident where a student in blackface wore a noose around his neck, accompanied by a student dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member, at a campus house party. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is investigating a case of four white students who dressed in blackface the weekend before Halloween to portray Jamaican bobsledders from the movie "Cool Runnings." Last month, four Colorado College hockey players, including two from Minnesota, were suspended after going to a golf outing in blackface to portray characters from the TV show "Family Matters."
Perhaps the costume store was sold out of Hitler's Nazi uniform.
An investigation is currently underway looking into what the students' intent was. If the investigation finds that a university policy was violated, the students would go in front of a judicial board, where they could get a warning or even a suspension from school.
Comments: (163)
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By: phyllis on 11/10/2007 3:36AM
All this crying over silly stuff like nooses and black faces are only escalating the silliness. Just jump rope with it.
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By: CATHERINE on 11/10/2007 6:25AM
PERSONALLY I AM NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE BLACK FACE STUFF. WHAT I AM WORRIED ABOUT IS, THAT YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND MANY TEENAGERS ARE DOING THESE THINGS BECUASE THEY DINT KNOW THE HISTORY BEHIND IT. IT'S ONE THING TO HAVE BLACK HISTORY MONTH, BUT IF YOU DONT TAKE THESE CHILDREN (WHITE AND BLACK), AND HAVE THEM LISTEN TO STORIES FROM PEOPLE WHO WERE IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OR HAVE BEEN OPRRESSED BY ACTS OF RACISM, THEN THEY WONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND SAYING IS WRONG. AS FAR AS THE WORD N***** GOES; WE ALL NEED TO LOOK UP THE MEANING OF THAT AND TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WHATS THE RIGHT WAY TO USE IT. DONT LET THE MEDIA EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN
CATHERINE
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By: Lisa on 11/10/2007 8:11AM
OtaY!!!! Lets take out the Little Rascals movies again! You guys just do not get it. It appears that treating each other with disrespect is a way of life in society these days!!! If someone were to dress up as a ethnic group that would be considered racist too. If you dressed up in a full length Burka that Islamic women wear that would be considered disrespectful. I think it is time for another black history class 101 for the entire country----read my blog riveroflifelisajoy!
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By: Lisa on 11/10/2007 8:10AM
Oh---my blog is riveroflifelisajoy@wordpress.com---Let us please stop stating the obvious---RACISM IS BAD AND MUST STOP!! Comedy is always good---but not at the risk of someone elses feelings---YA DIGG!!!!????!!!!
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By: Ms. Idella Educator on 11/10/2007 8:06AM
When African American people know their history and are educated about the oppressive tactics and continued miseducation of the public about them, they would never dismiss such actions as unimportant or ones that we should ignore because bigger issues take precedent. This is a bigger issue that reflects continued racist stereotypes and actions in the larger society. It is never okay for anyone to disrespect my ethnicity, cultural heritage, or humanity. The use of Black Face is a part of a racist system that demeaned and was derogatory to a people. It said we were less intelligent, less capable, less human that others. Learn our history and why these acts continue to degrade and portray negative images that we cannot afford to condone.
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By: karen barnes on 11/10/2007 8:16AM
I think the idiots above are not seeing the whole picture. It is not just about color,it is about being racist. If black people made fun of whites that is just as wrong as the white people painting their face black and hanging nooses. Since when is hanging anyone funny? Blacks as a whole can get angry because we were the race that got hung by a noose when white people decided we are not fit to live in their town.We deserve and have earned the right to live and breathe any where in the usa as the other races. So instead of just ignoring them saying so what it was a joke we need to work together to end all racism. For the fools up top what if the came to your house and hung a noose, burned a cross in your front yard when you go outside and share a laugh with them???? Hmmm
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By: Ernest Harris on 12/01/2007 9:23PM
What I dont understand is blacks, like white are fightand die in in the middle east. Why can't we just live together in this country. Arabs are destroying and killing people in this country. They hate all
americans and yet they come to this country and open businesses in this country only to send the money back to their country to buy bombs and fly planes int buildings to kill us. Yet you continue to hat black people. We are not the enemy, we did not fly those planes into the trade center and bomb the trade center early in the 90's, Arabs did yet you embrace them and they destroy the homeland and your children. In time, they will destroy many, many more. This country will never the same because of the Arabs, ie. (airports, sporting events, passenger liners, plans and the list goes on. Stop the madness and look at the real enemy.
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By: Jim Crow on 11/11/2007 8:11AM
Racism still alive, and in some extraordinary ways, It would read here, at lease in Pensacola,that they've traded up their hoods for uniform and have this sort of,"good ole boy", mentality when it comes too, fairness and justice. It's a sad thing to say, but hate of such kind is still alive today.
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By: brian on 11/10/2007 8:48AM
What is the big deal, it was a halloween costume. Not an attempt to hurt anyones feelings.
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By: Faye on 11/10/2007 8:59AM
It was racist and dumb, another example of stupidity. People will do what you allow them to do. No that is not funny. It is cruel. What people do in the dark or at home eventually come to the light. Law had to be put into place to control uncivilized behavior. By trying to belittle blacks is about power and control. The image that black are what the blackfaces project is insulting and demeaning. The best revenge is to do better. While they are playing stupid game black can spend more time figuring out how to become better leaders.
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