I don't recall ever being taught about blackface in my schooling, from grade school through my undergrad and never heard about it, it's history, or any of its offensive meaning, until I read about the Auburn incident - sorry. I doubt it is being taught in the majority of schools...so, ignorance may not be an excuse to you, but its not fair to assume that everyone and their mother is aware of that. I am sure there are plenty of people who'd agree with me.
Still, everything listed below is not an excuse to make these kids lives hell. Its an un-level playing field, unfortunately.
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Originally posted by sugar and spice
The reason why "cracker," "white trash," etc. are used when the n-word is not is because the majority of white Americans are not offended by "cracker," or if they are, they don't make their offense known. If that happened, "cracker" would be off the air almost immediately.
Sorry, but ignorance is not an excuse. You do something racist, it doesn't matter that you don't know the history behind it -- it is still unacceptable. It's ridiculous that anyone can make it to college these days and not understand the historical implications of blackface.
And as for the white supremecists -- racism is played out by stupid ignorant 20-year-olds in this country much more often than the Klan makes their precense felt. Racism doesn't just apply to cross-burners -- it is something that we all influence on a daily basis.
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