8 year old boy kicked out of class for dressing as Martin Luther King Jr. for school project - Polidicks

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;36065903]Exactly. However, this point will continue to be missed. Blackface wasn't just painting the face black. The makeup was done in such a way that it created an impression the stereotype of a cartoonish black person. The person in makeup then behaved in an absolute caricature of what the stereotypes of African Americans were in a fashion that mocked their culture and demeaned them. The child's face is painted brown and he is wearing a mustache in an obvious imitation of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I doubt he or his parents were behaving in any way that could be interpreted to have stereotyped African Americans as anything but heroes - like the person he is imitating. Yes, it was stubborn of his parents to refuse to remove the makeup and leave but it isn't disrespect.[/QUOTE] Exactly. If I were a parent, I wouldn't think, "Wow, I'm putting face makeup on my kid to make him more like MLK. Who could possibly be offended by this?" I think it's a full possibility that, given the kid was 8 and he wanted the black facepaint, the parents didn't think anything of it. Yes, if it WERE actual blackface they should have stepped in. But it's not. They weren't like "Alright Sean, here's some red lipstick and some Botox, also, call everyone a negro. That's really in character!" Besides. Fire hoses were used to harm African-Americans in the past. Do we frame those as tools of racism and never use them again? At the same token, when does " blackface" simply become black face paint?

[QUOTE=Protocol7;36068131]Exactly. If I were a parent, I wouldn't think, "Wow, I'm putting face makeup on my kid to make him more like MLK. Who could possibly be offended by this?" I think it's a full possibility that, given the kid was 8 and he wanted the black facepaint, the parents didn't think anything of it. Yes, if it WERE actual blackface they should have stepped in. But it's not. They weren't like "Alright Sean, here's some red lipstick and some Botox, also, call everyone a negro. That's really in character!" Besides. Fire hoses were used to harm African-Americans in the past. Do we frame those as tools of racism and never use them again? At the same token, when does " blackface" simply become black face paint?[/QUOTE] Yet again, the parents were [I]asked[/I] to remove it and they refused. Would you refuse and make an issue of it? [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] Even if you're too dumb to see what you're doing initially, would you be a stubborn prick and decide your kid MUST wear blackface in school when they're asking you to remove it? [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=mobrockers2;36063730]There are many stories to it's origin (none being displayed on the English wiki for some reason), one being that it's an Italian chimney clear, and that is the version I was taught.[/QUOTE] The version you were taught was politically correct bullshit lies. The whole thing originated mocking african slaves.

[QUOTE=Lankist;36068505]Yet again, the parents were [I]asked[/I] to remove it and they refused. Would you refuse and make an issue of it? [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] Even if you're too dumb to see what you're doing initially, would you be a stubborn prick and decide your kid MUST wear blackface in school when they're asking you to remove it? [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] The version you were taught was politically correct bullshit lies. The whole thing originated mocking african slaves.[/QUOTE] Things change over time. At the time black peter was invented, blacks were seen as lesser beings, with the changing of that idea, so was the story altered. Even while him being portrait as a not very bright individual, he was not a slave, in fact he used to be a slave but was freed by st nicholas, he then decided to live in his castle and helps him bring presents to children.

[QUOTE=mobrockers2;36068803]Things change over time. At the time black peter was invented, blacks were seen as lesser beings, with the changing of that idea, so was the story altered. Even while him being portrait as a not very bright individual, he was not a slave, in fact he used to be a slave but was freed by st nicholas, he then decided to live in his castle and helps him bring presents to children.[/QUOTE] so he's just a racist caricature that you pretend isn't racist anymore. yea youre a fucking saint it's racism dude, fucking deal with it.

[QUOTE=Lankist;36068856]so he's just a racist caricature that you pretend isn't racist anymore. yea youre a fucking saint it's racism dude, fucking deal with it.[/QUOTE] an eight year old with facepaint is not racism.

The administration of this school has no idea of what it's doing. It's a bunch of racist assholes.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;36069398]an eight year old with facepaint is not racism.[/QUOTE] he's talking about zwartepiet, dude. A dutch christmas character who is a dumb, bumbling black slave portrayed by white actors wearing blackface. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Zwartepiet.png/275px-Zwartepiet.png[/img] [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] Fucking read the posts you reply to. He's saying Black Peter isn't racist.

-snip-

[QUOTE=Lankist;36069522]he's talking about zwartepiet, dude. A dutch christmas character who is a dumb, bumbling black slave portrayed by white actors wearing blackface. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Zwartepiet.png/275px-Zwartepiet.png[/img] [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] Fucking read the posts you reply to. He's saying Black Peter isn't racist.[/QUOTE] My bad. Either way if he's telling the truth about the story being altered to be less racist, then it's probably not as bad as you're making it be.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;36069558]My bad. Either way if he's telling the truth about the story being altered to be less racist, then it's probably not as bad as you're making it be.[/QUOTE] The only thing that's been altered is that they pretend it isn't a racist character but that he's "covered in ash" That's revisionist bullshit, and it's even more racist. You think black dutch are going to hear that and go "yeah okay sure?" That was his example of blackface being not-racist, and it's totally racist.

Hold on. How did we go from a kid who was trying to portray in important man in the history of civil rights to a fucking black Peter Pan!?

[QUOTE=VengfulSoldier;36069583]Hold on. How did we go from a kid who was trying to portray in important man in the history of civil rights to a fucking black Peter Pan!?[/QUOTE] the dude I was quoting was saying blackface isn't always a racial thing, and Black Peter was his example. And his example is completely racist. I bought his dumb story until somebody told me his name and I could fucking spend two minutes on google reading the character's history.

This thread is now derailed, get out while you can. [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Lankist;36069598]the dude I was quoting was saying blackface isn't always a racial thing, and Black Peter was his example.[/QUOTE] His evidence was off-topic, leave it alone.

[QUOTE=VengfulSoldier;36069600]This thread is now derailed, get out while you can.[/QUOTE] Threads evolve. If you want to post about the core topic, post about the core topic. If you don't want to talk about tangents, don't talk about tangents. Don't start whining how the topic of conversation has shifted in eight pages. Discussions tend to do that, and nobody is going to re-hash shit we've already been over just so you can feel like the thread is consistent enough to meet your arbitrary standards of quality.

[QUOTE=Lankist;36069571]The only thing that's been altered is that they pretend it isn't a racist character but that he's "covered in ash" That's revisionist bullshit, and it's even more racist. You think black dutch are going to hear that and go "yeah okay sure?" That was his example of blackface being not-racist, and it's totally racist.[/QUOTE] I don't think you're qualified to assume what black Dutchmen are going to think. I mean, you're probably right, but I'm assuming you're white. I am too. We don't know how they feel about these kinds of things nor how they'd react. A small anecdote: as the OP I don't give a shit if the thread is off-topic. Lankist is right, discussions change.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;36069629]I don't think you're qualified to assume what black Dutchmen are going to think. I mean, you're probably right, but I'm assuming you're white. I am too. We don't know how they feel about these kinds of things nor how they'd react.[/QUOTE] I'm mestizo. And it took all of thirty seconds to read that there's quite a bit of controversy surrounding the practice, and many advocacy groups over there have been trying to get the government to stop endorsing the character. [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Protocol7;36069629]A small anecdote: as the OP I don't give a shit if the thread is off-topic. Lankist is right, discussions change.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee277/releasetheweasel/Brograbs.jpg[/IMG]

I suppose.

[QUOTE=Lankist;36069650]I'm mestizo. And it took all of thirty seconds to read that there's quite a bit of controversy surrounding the practice, and many advocacy groups over there have been trying to get the government to stop endorsing the character. [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] [IMG]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee277/releasetheweasel/Brograbs.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Sure there are butthurt people trying to get it banned. That doesn't change the fact that it's celebrated by the whole fucking country, blacks included. There will always be people complaining about stuff, claiming things are racist because they see racism in everything related to blacks/Muslims/yews/asians. There's quite a bit of controversy surrounding homosexuality, does that mean that we should deny homosexuals marriage? Because a group of butthurt people don't like homosexuals? 'Sinterklaas' is not about slavery at all, it's about getting gifts from good people. Ffs, Santa clause is directly derived from 'Sinterklaas', and santa's elves are comparable to 'zwarte piet'. Elves are fucking slaves. Not only do they do all the work (take care of the reindeer, craft all the toys etc), they don't even get to help spread the gifts thus get no credit at all!

[QUOTE=mobrockers2;36070862]Sure there are butthurt people trying to get it banned. That doesn't change the fact that it's celebrated by the whole fucking country, blacks included. There will always be people complaining about stuff, claiming things are racist because they see racism in everything related to blacks/Muslims/yews/asians. There's quite a bit of controversy surrounding homosexuality, does that mean that we should deny homosexuals marriage? Because a group of butthurt people don't like homosexuals? 'Sinterklaas' is not about slavery at all, it's about getting gifts from good people. Ffs, Santa clause is directly derived from 'Sinterklaas', and santa's elves are comparable to 'zwarte piet'. Elves are fucking slaves. Not only do they do all the work (take care of the reindeer, craft all the toys etc), they don't even get to help spread the gifts thus get no credit at all![/QUOTE] Are you seriously comparing your dumb, racist traditions to the disparagement of homosexuals around the world? Uhh, the side that doesn't deride people is the side that's always right. [editline]23rd May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=mobrockers2;36070862]Ffs, Santa clause is directly derived from 'Sinterklaas', and santa's elves are comparable to 'zwarte piet'. Elves are fucking slaves. Not only do they do all the work (take care of the reindeer, craft all the toys etc), they don't even get to help spread the gifts thus get no credit at all![/QUOTE] Yeah no shit santa is a dumb myth that's why tons of people don't feel their kids that bullshit.

The thing with elves is that nobody can possibly be offended by them Whereas Black Peter is... well... black.