[sugar and spice]

(Who wants to bet on how long it will take before this thread gets locked?)

I'm going to admit that I've been to a "Ghetto Fab" party. Nobody came in blackface. Nobody wore fake Afros or fake weaves or anything like that. The girls mostly wore velour J-Lo sweatsuits. The boys wore sweatpants and wifebeaters. Other than that, it wasn't any different from any other party I'd been to so far this year. There were people of every race there and as far as I could see, none of them took offense to the theme.

That said, was it culturally insensitive? Of course. But was it racist? Probably not. It is definitely not something I would want associated with my sorority (this was not a Greek party, nor was it associated with my sorority in any way). If one of my sisters had suggested this as a possible mixer theme, I would have fought it to the bitter end. And had I known the host of this particular party, I probably would have tried to get him/her to change the theme beforehand. Still, as it was, I went, everybody had fun, there were no racial incidents, and I don't think anybody's feelings were hurt.

I think the primary thing here is ignorance -- most of the people at my school, regardless of their race, wouldn't consider a Ghetto Fab party an insult to any culture. They'd just think of it as another way to party. Most of them, if they were really asked to think about it and discuss it, would probably choose a different theme. And I think that is the case for most campuses around the nation.