Equal opportunity racism at UVa
 

UVa Cavalier Daily

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Letters to the Editor


Equal opportunity racism

I encountered something this weekend that I feel that students should be aware of, as it is a matter of great importance.

Saturday night, while out at a Halloween party, I witnessed something extremely shocking. An African-American male walked in to the party dressed as a "white guy," with his face painted white, wearing a pink polo-style shirt and a sweater tied around his shoulders. In light of the controversy and offensiveness of the blackface scandal of two Halloweens ago, I find it unbelievable that this person would choose to dress up in "whiteface," perhaps as a reference to two years ago. I am forced to wonder why this is deemed acceptable, and why this person likely will not face the same repercussions as did the blackface students.

I found the blackface of two years ago to be equally offensive as this incident, which is what makes me even more angry. If we are supposedly a community of racial equals, how can the repercussions for one race be nonexistent, while for the other race severe?

I feel that this is just as offensive as the occurrence two years ago, and must be acknowledged as such. With the obvious racial tensions that exist at U.Va., I feel that both sides must do their part to achieve a community of equals, and this is undoubtedly a step in the wrong direction.

Ashley Davis

CLAS III

This girl shows a rather tenuous grip on the historical factors surrounding blackface. Move on.

reverse racism- punishing white students for blackface but not punishing black students for similar actions.

The historical context is simply not the same. Blackface has a history. "Whiteface" just doesn't. They're not comparable.

While I wholeheartedly agree...what this young man did was just juvenille and inappropriate.

well when that incident happened those guys were mocking blacks and making fun of them, was this guy doing the same, if he just dressed up as a "white guy" there is nothing wrong with that, now if he was making fun by doing things then thats a problem. See the problem wasnt that the guy dress as black peoeple. they were makin references to stereo types, they did that not for the fun of holloween but to mock black people. if this guy just dressed up as a white person then there nothing wrong with that

IS that what happened? It happened at a few campuses. I know at one the kids were just dressed as Rappers.

Thats ridiculous, racism is racism...........

No, it is absolutely not the same thing.

HOW? People make it sound like it is just NOT possible for a black person to discrimate or be racist towards a white person. That's stupid. I understand that blacks being racist towards whites does not have the same historical implication, as mentioned before. I know there's been years and years of discrimination against African Americans. But that's not what I'm talking about. My point is that anyone can be a racist, even a black person.

I wholeheartedly agree with the author of this. Both sets of students should have received equal punishment. How can minorities expect to be equal if they try to be better? Isn't that just what slave owners thought: that they were better, and above the slaves? Why can't we all just forget about the colors of our skin????

and.....

Co-sign. I agree completely. Portraying racial stereotypes, no matter what race, is offensive and wrong.

oh boy...here we go again...

I like this definition of racism:

Racism is an ideological, structural and historic stratification process by which the population of European descent, through its individual and institutional distress patterns, intentionally has been able to sustain, to its own best advantage, the dynamic mechanics of upward or downward mobility (of fluid status assignment) to the general disadvantage of the population designated as non-white (on a global scale), using skin color, gender, class, ethnicity or nonwestern nationality as the main indexical criteria used for enforcing differential resource allocation decisions that contribute to decisive changes in relative racial standing in ways most favoring the populations designated as 'white.'

--Taken from the Center for the Study of White American Culture

I think you're exactly right.

Blackface has a long history in this country that is inextricably interwoven with racial stereotypes and supposed racial superiority. One couldn't have a real black man in a show, so white men dressed up, very stereotypically, as black men and behaved as very stereotypical black men.

Now, no matter how innocently a naive college student may put on blackface for his rapper Hallowe'en costume, there's just too much historical baggage connected with a white person putting on blackface. No matter how innocently it was done, it is going to offend, and understandably so.

The same just cannot be said for putting on "whiteface." There is no historical precedent for "whiteface" being used as a socially-acceptable form of ridiculing white people. Putting on whiteface, per se, does not necessarily reflect prejudice, nor can one assume that the whiteface will offend, as one can with blackface.

All of that said, the man in question may (I, of course, don't know one way or the other) have been expressing some prejudice through his choice of a Hallowe'en costume, in which case his costume can validly be considered offensive. It would be the underlying motive, though, and not the whiteface itself that should give rise to offense.

Hypos:
What would people think if someone put on yellow face (i.e. asian)?
Or red face? (american indian)

I personally believe that any member of any race has the ability to be racist against an individual, or group of individuals, of another race. Whites can be racists, blacks can be racists, etc. However, I don't feel that this episode at UVa is as much about racism, as perhaps poor judgment. Considering the past incident, the young man most likely knew that his costume would evoke a passionately irate response from many of his peers. However, "black face" is offensive, not because it is a way to imitate blacks, but because it was used historically in minstrel shows as a way to exaggerate the features of blacks that were erroneously thought to be the most unattractive. As far as I know, there have been no events in American history where blacks dressed in white face as a way to degrade whites. There are certain things that are racist in one context, and benign in another. Every culture has sensitive spots, based on their history, that do not apply to another culture.

Was dressing in "white face" wrong? Yes. Was it an act of racism? No.

Also, what do you think about the fact that this was done on a campus that recently had a very high profile blackface incident?

Race is an issue in the U.S. and I wish people would move to actually do something about it instead of engaging in conversations that are more opinion based than factual and progressive. I think the fact that it happened in Virginia @ UVA is interesting. Considering the history of the state and the origins of the university.

a pink polo and a sweater around his shoulders...
 

that's hilarious.

As someone of Asian descent, I think yellowface is kind of insulting. I saw a movie the other day called "The Sleeping Dictionary", where Jessica Alba was playing someone who was half Indonesian, half English. I couldn't stop wondering why they didn't get an actress who was half Southeast Asian in the role, even though Jessica, who is part Hispanic does "pass" as someone who is Eurasian. Several years ago, when Miss Saigon opened on Broadway, many Asian actors were upset that Jonathan Pryce was playing the Engineer, a character that is half French, half Vietnamese. They felt that the role should have been played by someone who was of Asian descent. I believe that every actor in that role since Jonathan Pryce left has been of Asian descent.

Although "yellow" face or "red" face doesn't have the same historical context of blackface, I would still find it rather offensive. To me, it's far worse if a while person does black/red/yellow/whatever face than if someone of another race does white face -- since white people are in a position of power in this country and pretty much always have been.

While there is no historical context for the "whiteface" as a socially acceptable form for ridiculing "white" people I have to imagine that the intent of this student was infact to ridicule "white" people by playing-up the stereotype. So if the intent, based on the discription of the costume, was to mock or ridicule another culture or ethnicity how is that not racist?

Ah so that makes it okay.... :rolleyes:

How does everyone feel about dressing in drag for Halloween?

Girls: Would you be insulted if a guy dressed as a woman?

Boys: Same thing, but the other way around.

Of course, then it's easier to blame them.......

Some of you are beyond ridiculous.

This isn't racism.

It might be funny to some, and it may be stupid to do, but it is not racism.

It always baffles me when someone clearly can't see that line.

Next people will say it's OK to burn crosses and dress in white sheets because it's funny and the history is irrelevant.

But then again, I wouldn't expect much from someone like RACooper who says people call him a racist and anti-semite and mocks people with a history of the Nazis and takes pleasure in death.

-Rudey

I feel that all that's Halloween has become is an excuse for guys to dress up like girls, and an excuse for girls to dress up like sluts.

Without meaning to sound overly (or even mildly) Clintonesque, it depends on how one defines "racism." Dictionary.com gives two definitions: (1) The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others, and (2) Discrimination or prejudice based on race. By these definitions, a prejudice-induced intent could indeed mean racism, assuming (with regard to the first definition) that it reflects a belief in the superiority of the wearer's race (something that blackface, because of its historical context, cannot help but do).

But some sociologists and the others define racism more restrictively, like the definition given by The Epitome1920 above. Even my 1962 Random House unabridged gives these (and only these) definitions:

1) a belief that human races have distinctive characteristics that determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2) a policy of enforcing such asserted right.
3) a system of government or society based upon it.

By these more restrictive definitions, only the societally-"superior" race (that is, the race with the "upper hand") or those who associate with them can be racist. Members of other races can be prejudiced or bigoted, but not racists.

Some may disagree with or not like this more limited definition, but it is nevertheless an accepted definition. Arguably, it is the more long-standing definition as well, with the "looser" definition having arisen from more casual use. That's why in a discussion like this where an important word can have more than one meaning, good communication depends on figuring out exactly what other posters mean by words like "racist" or "racism," rather than assuming they are working with the same definition that we are.

Thus, if the intent of the "Hallowe'ener" was to mock or ridicule white people, he can rightfully be considered a bigot. Whether he could be considered racist or not would depend on whether one is using a more or less expansive definition of "racist."

Hmmm. I pretty quickly have images of old Westerns where the cowboys or the cavalry were wiping out the "savage Injuns," the latter always being played by white men in "redface."

A more modern-day version of minstrel show mentality, maybe?

What exactly was the derrogatory stereotype being depicted in the whiteface incident?

I am just curious as to what other than simply the whiteface makeup, made his depiction so offensive and demeaning to white people.

Speaking only for this one white person, I find nothing inherently offensive or demeaning about it.

I find it kind of funny actually? Did he pop the collar on his pink polo shirt?

Yes he can be considered a bigot if mockery was his intent... however I'd also argue that it was racist (consiously or not). To me the mockery is meant to deminish or lessen the status of another culture/ethnicity... which is a way of gaining an upper-hand in a social setting; which is why jokes mocking another person's ethnic background is considered part and parcel of a racist attitude.

Examined from a Socialogy or Anthropology point of view any act that is design the deminsh or weaken the standing of any group of people is an act of dicrimination, because you are reducing them to a less than equal footing... and so using "race" as the determining factor in implementing this act marks it a racist act, just as using sex would have made it a sexist act.

Unless one is operating with a definition of "racist" and "racism" that limits application of that term to members of the race with power. If one is using that definition, then, literally by definition, a black cannot be a racist, at least not an American black.

i'm more offended by the fact that there is such a double standard than by the actual act itself. racism is racism.

That is a definition though that would then in a way tacitly excuse acts from one group and expect it from another... all based on the percieved power of each group in a social enviroment or society... how is that a helpful definition when it itself is discrimantory?

But again, if one is using the accepted definition (not the only accepted definition, but unquestionably an accepted definition) of "racism" that limits application of the word to the race with "power," it's not racism if it comes from someone not not of the race with power.

That's not a double standard; it's a precise use of language.

Here's the point I'm trying to make -- white people have the upper hand in our society -- that's always been the case. There's nothing a black man at a party can do to reduce white people to less than equal footing. White people already have way more than equal footing in our country. That's why I don't find it especially troublesome if a black person dresses up in white face. I personally am not bothered by people who are not in a position of power doing things like this, but find it offensive if those in a position of power (i.e., white people) do the same thing. Feel free to disagree with me, but that's my opinion.