Cultural norms??? Did you even look at what this party was or are you just jumping on the overzealous outrage bandwagon? I'm so very sorry that someone made light of the very serious cultural "event" which was Kanye's Golddiger song. Oh my God. All of the outrage. And "those not like you"? I'm sure if you checked the itunes playlists of these kids, these songs being "mocked" as you put it can be found there. Whose culture do you think is being mocked? Are you suggesting that American Pop Culture is the exclusive province of some race? Or does it just deserve its own outrage category altogether?

Blackface is bad, this ain't it.

Border jumping parties where one side dresses up as stereotypical Mexicans and the other side border police is bad. This ain't it.

Cowboys and Indians... again, this ain't it.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/088...g?v=1442345084

oh damn ohdamn ohdamn.. this costume mocks pop culture.

Wait, what?

I think her reaction to this sums up the reaction of a lot of these UCLA students who really, honestly, don't understand what they are outraged about. It's kind of a "Bless your heart" moment.

http://www.billboard.com/files/stylu...in-617-409.jpg

And how about this outrage upon outrage? Pop culture mocking pop culture. And let's not even get started with everything Weird Al.

http://dmdb.org/images/al.bhd.jpg

So is this only bad when fraternity kids do it? Or do we just have a fun bit of selective outrage from people who don't even know what they're really mad about. It's hard to take any of these folks seriously in their outrage.

I did look. They party was mocking a song by an AfAm artist.

Why don't y'all make fun of Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Tammy Wynette. I mean, every C&W song is just ripe for mockery.

Outraged at the continued display of immaturity by adults who view those that are different from them as a chance to ridicule.

And what's your point? So any music by any AfAm artist is somehow sacrosanct and is now too serious to be mocked in any way? Okay.. so that is a new rule. Kanye West is so super serious, must be taken seriously.. gotcha.

You don't get to use the word "y'all" in this context unless you agree I can say "you people."

Fabulous. In this sentence, you committed every bit as grave a sin as anyone in any of these UCLA chapters. Your organization should be suspended pending investigation.

Are you offended, Kevin?

I don't even think Kanye takes himself this seriously. And that's saying a lot.

Also--pop singers are way more visible than C&W singers so it's a weak comparison. they're simply not in the public eye as much.

Listen, there wasn't even blackface at this party. The professional outragers barked up the wrong tree and now a lot of innocent people are being punished. Ugh.

I guess it is okay to act Black, as long as you are not actually Black.

Who acted black? The gold diggers? The women dressed up like Kim Kardashian? Please let me know because I am missing this.

You're right.

A more correct statement would be to say that I guess it is perfectly okay to appropriate Black cultural identifiers for the purpose of ridicule, as long as the one who is carrying out the appropriation is not Black himself / herself.

If you can accept that a person is more than his or her race or ethnicity, then you must also accept that Kanye and Kim are douchy for reasons beyond their respective races and ethnicity. They are perfectly worthy of being made fun of and continuing to bang the drum about racism isn't going to help that. If he wanted to not diminish his stature as a black man in America, there is a damned lot he could do to be treated with respect. If you intentionally put yourself out in the social media universe then you deserve this type of ridicule. Cultures as a whole, private individuals who accidentally find themselves in the spotlight, that's a different story. That is not the case here.

I agree, Kanye and Kim K., as individuals, are douchy to the max.


It is the case that historically NPC / NIC / IFC have a habit of these "dress-up" theme parties in the spirit of mocking those they are trying to imitate. Unfortunately, NPC / NIC / IFC groups often target minority groups. They are a victim of their own past behaviors.

There is no person/couple in America right now who is as worthy of ridicule, except for the Republican presidential candidates. I would refrain from continuing to bang the drum about what "white people always do" (which is more or less what you are saying). These are late teenagers who at best made a minor mistake and at worst did absolutely nothing wrong. If we save the righteous indignation for when a person race or culture have actually been wronged then the indignation might actually have some teeth.
This is not an "I am not a costume" situation.

Exactly. Also, there are NPHC fraternities in the NIC, and people of color in NPC/NIC fraternities. Generalizations do not help any of us.

Look, we all know of instances when fraternity or sorority members do dumb, insensitive, or downright offensive theme parties. THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THEM. Now we have misguided college students protesting over what boils down to nothing. It makes it possible that potentially legitimate concerns in the future are ignored. THEY ARE NOT DOING THEMSELVES ANY FAVORS.

Case in point:

"Said Hanan Worku, another UCLA student, on Facebook, “Yes that’s right, a frat decided it would be okay to have their members repeat a part of history that demoralized, mocked and dehumanized African Americans/ And celebrate while doing it. They showed up with their chains and braids with stuffed butts for God knows what reason. True Bruin values amiright????!!!!! Not to mention all of this happened last night which happened to be a part of Black Bruin Welcome Week! Coincidence right??????”

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...t-ucla/410638/

So, when did the Gold Rush dehumanize African-Americans?

So, as a white woman, I feel a little uncomfortable in these situations taking the position I'm about to take. I hate seeing discussions of race break down into white people taking one side and blacks taking the other, and it seems to happen more often than not.

But - I do want to recognize the limitations of my own perspective, so I'm coming at this with genuine curiosity and open-mindedness. Here we go:

I think there is a genuine difference between making fun of an individual and making fun of a group of people based on stereotypes. I also think there's a difference between making fun of an individual for what they've actually done, versus making fun of someone by placing a stereotype on them. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, it sounds like many of the costumes were making fun of an individual (or family), based on their own and actual behavior.

-The gold diggers: Removing the question of blackface, this costume looks to be a pun on the actual name of the Kanye West song. Halloween shops have been selling these kinds of "gold digger" costumers for years. If anything, I would often associate the stereotype of gold digger with a young pretty woman and an old white dude. I have a hard time seeing something offensive here. Did I miss that?

-The big butts: Okay, this one is a little more provocative, but it seems like it's a direct dig at the Kardashians much more than anything else. Those girls are obsessed with their backsides, and I swear, have perfected some kind of fitness regime to enhance them. Assuming that this is the case, is the action still culturally insensitive, or just mean-spirited toward the Kardashians?

-Chains, clothing, etc: Here's where I get iffy. The theme was based on Kanye West. If you go to an event dressed up in an outfit that he's actually worn, or something as similar as you can muster, is that offensive? At what point does the outfit cross the line?

I'm sure there were other costume variations at the party, so I'm sure that there were plenty more offensive than those listed here. But the thing is, I've seen plenty of "Tennis Pros/Golf Pros/CEOs and Something Hos" parties, or "White Trash whatever", or even "Famous Couples", and all of those are going to make fun of some group.

So is the real issue that the theme was "Kanye Western" and not "Taylor Swifty"?

Appropriate Black cultural identifiers? By dressing up as gold miners? A profession that, by the way, was predominantly white? Or was it when they dressed up as a white woman?

95% of these parties, I agree with you. This one is patently absurd.

Not at all. Just pointing out that in this instance, you are being an asshat.

The real issue for me is the need to purposely darken your skin for the event. Gold diggers come in all races, ethnic groups and genders. Gold diggers are not limited to one group.

Gold diggers in the context that Kanye used it in his song is about women who are only after men for their money. The fact that a Black man is singing a song about that is really no reason to darken your skin.

No, I'm pointing out that on the surface, it really does look like this NPC chapter was doing "blackface". Maybe that was not their intent, but it appears like it was. We can debate and split hairs over "is it really blackface or not", but I can assure you most people aren't going to debate the issue. They are going to go based on what they see.

As I said before, NPC / IFC / NIC groups have historically mocked other cultures for the purpose of a party theme. This incident may not be blackface per se, but it does fall into the realm of it.

I know exactly what a gold digger is in Kanye's context. I'm not 80. That's not what the girls dressed up as. The girls dressed up as "gold diggers" literally as a play on the song title...they dressed up in flannel shirts, denim, and "gold pans" as if they were panning for gold in the 1850s. The "skin darkening" in question was a charcoal smudge on each cheek as if they were dirty from panning for gold, not blackface.

For pete's sake, look at the damn photos if you're going to get righteous about what they are dressed as. You clearly haven't.

Oh man. You really haven't even seen the photos, have you? You're right if they were dressing up as women that were seeking a rich man for money. I'd be with you 110% and I even said so earlier in this thread. That's not the gold digger they actually dressed up as. They dressed up as the country western one.

This rush to criticize without even understanding what happened is exactly what we are arguing is absurd about this outrage, NOT that GLOs often do throw parties that are offensive.

I'll even help you out. This is the black face / gold digger photo in question.

http://dailybruin.com/wp-content/gra...48150425_n.jpg

http://www.alaskacenters.gov/images/...d290x222_1.jpg

It was so clearly NOT. Blackface. Clearly dirt. Because miners are dirty. And apparently the one picture of a girl whose skin is all darkened who dressed like Kanye was you know someone with dark skin.

The people objecting made a mistake. They should admit this apologize and move on.

So, why have a Kanye themed party and dress up as actual old-time gold diggers with charcoal smeared all over the face? The context of Kanye's gold digger and actual gold diggers are two different things.

Maybe it was just bad party planning.

Because they were making a (relatively clever) joke on a Kanye song title. Also, the party theme was "Kanye West-ern"...so, Kanye West meets the Wild Wild West. Hence the other country western photos that didn't make the news. It was a perfect blend of a Kanye West song title with a western theme that people took wildly out of context. Once the news started spreading, nobody took the time to think critically about any of this, and now there are hundreds of people whose names are smeared with ABSOLUTELY. NO. PROOF. THAT. ANY. BLACKFACE. EVER. OCCURRED. In fact, by this point it is abundantly clear that none actually happened, and yet the protests still go on.

Do you not see how this is grossly unfair?

ETA: It's not any different than dressing up as a "flash light" to interpret "Flashing lights". Or wearing a devil headdress and a blue dress to be "devil in a blue dress".

So, in other words, they were really stretching it and the connection failed.

So they deserve to be labeled as women who dressed up in blackface for life? Remember, the protests were not just about "an offensive party theme", but the allegations were that these sorority women dressed up as African-American women. Which absolutely never happened and honestly, anybody who thought about it for more than 5 seconds after seeing that photo would have come to the same conclusion. Their names are public in at least one case, and will follow them for life. It is reprehensibly irresponsible and unfair.

I repeat: I am not arguing that incredibly offensive themes, including real blackface, have happened many times associated with GLOs. This was nowhere near one of them. Somebody made a quick mistake about a costume, took no time to actually research what it was, and dragged a bunch of innocent people through the mud.

I thought it was a marvelous play on words. On the West in Kanyes nane and on the Gold Digger song. If there was a white C and W singer with that last name who was one of our biggest celebrities and had a song with that title no one would have objected. The objectors didn't even stop to wonder what those girls were dressed up as. They just freaked out. They made a mistake and should admit it.

That was a Halloween costume 1 year for me -- in a navy blue (AXiD) Betsy Johnson dress with red horns and a tail.
I probably offended someone in Hell.

Nothing will happen.

No, in other words, the Afrikan org making the (apparently) false allegations of students in blackface and assumptions about gold-mining dirt was really stretching it and should have failed.

Unfortunately, the admin, in their rush to cya and appear politically correct, slapped sanctions on the party-goers with no evidence whatsoever -- and prior to investigating -- therefore implying guilt and exacerbating the damage to the Greek orgs and innocent individuals within these orgs.

Unless the policy of the university is that damaging sanctions are levied on orgs based on allegations alone, the admin responsible for the damage via their knee-jerk punishment should be fired. And the students who made the false allegations should be dismissed, as should those who intimidate any of the students in either GLO.

Hope the GLOs lawyer-up on this one.

Wait what? White people can't use music by African Americans at parties?

You're seriously grasping at straws here.

It's easy money where UCLA is concerned. The school might as well just get ready to write an apology and a check.

Not to mention they possibly have a hell of a libel suit against this Afrikan group. Especially if that group continued to push this agenda of hysteria after they would reasonably have known there was no blackface here. Our organizations don't really have a history of being litigious, but here is where there needs to be a huge exception to the rule.

Sigmadiva is a fine example of what you're going to find here. As wrong as you can demonstrate her to be, she would never ever admit she made a mistake.

So the university could be required to pay damages if the GLO prevails? In addition to the GLO's legal costs?

Also, could individuals within the orgs seek damages regardless of what their GLO chooses to do (or not to do) legally?

What I see here are two potential causes of action--the first is a Civil Rights claim, a "1983" action, where a state official under the color of state law, deprived the organization or individuals of their civil liberties. There may be some tort claims act issues here, I really don't know anything about California law, but this is federal stuff and attorney fees are paid for the Plaintiffs if they prevail.

This would be more difficult, I think. I'm not sure this would fall into any of the libel per se categories, and again, I'm unfamiliar with California law, and this would be a state action, but it's certainly possible.

@ Kevin. Agree. A 1983 action for sure. UCLA had no business's suspending the greek organization. As for the individual action. I agree it's tougher. If anyone can be identified who was accused of blackface then maybe??

This one really bothers me. It's not like those frat boys who sang a racist song. I would have defended them on constitutional grounds but they were disgusting. But here the GLO did NOTHING wrong as far as I can see. There is nothing racist about it. Why did they pick Kanye and Kim over one C AND W singer? Because in LA and in large parts of this country Kim and Kanye are much bigger stars. They are a phenomenon bringing in huge amounts of money for a tiny peak into some version of their lives.

I feel like everyone involved in this story is an idiot. Is it racist to smear charcoal on your face to dress as a 1840's era gold digger? No. Is it a bad idea to do that at a party named after a black man? Yes. Is it a bad idea to get outraged about that? Also yes.

Is it inherently racist to use a famous PoC as a theme for your event? No*. Is it a good idea, given the fact that lots of groups have handled this very poorly in recent years? Nope.



*I'm still thinking about this one. It's not consciously racist, but do chapters have parties named after white men? Someone gave the example of a Taylor Swifty party. I think I'd need a lot more context...this certainly doesn't rise to the level of racial slurs or blackface, but there are some appropriation issues, and if black people are seen as "themes" while white people are not, there is an "othering" that is happening and in that way, it contributes to structures of oppression.

sigmadiva.... really?!?!

"I was too preoccupied with jumping on the bandwagon to actually look at the pictures, and then when I realized my mistake, I played dumb like I just, totally didn't get the clever play on words that had been pointed out to me 12 bazillion times.

newsflash: many themes are "punny" or have names that leave an innuendo about one thing, but acts out something else. This was a literal gold digger. Not the slang term that people generally think of today when that term is used.

I cannot believe this had to be spelled out for you. :rolleyes: