Racism drama in /r/Halloween when a white user dresses in black face and sees nothing wrong with doing so. "Its only racist to Reddit when a white guy does something, didnt you know?" (np.reddit.com)
SubredditDrama
57 ups - 0 downs = 57 votes
158 comments submitted at 03:09:53 on Oct 24, 2014 by everhood13
No, I know the audience. I know how many people on Reddit are. Fake outrage for the sake of outrage. Thats why I said it. When I posted it on FB I had no worries because The people that know me, both white and black, know what kind of person I am and wouldnt be offended.
Hey man. Welcome to SRD; I'm going to try a different approach right now.
I wouldn't doubt for a second that you have black friends, that you're nice (and never overtly racist) to them, and that you harbor no hate for persons of color. That's not what this is about though.
Instead, I have an honest question: Have you spent any time reading about the historically racist use of black face and the impact contemporary use of black face has on persons of color? Or are all of your opinions on the subject based on your personal feelings about it, arrived through reasonable assumptions and your "gut feelings" about it?
I know plenty about the history of blackface. I also know this is a Halloween costume. When I dressed up as Homer Simpson I painted my skin yellow. This gentleman happens to be a black guy and thats who I was being for Halloween. Not a random DJ. An actual kids personality. So when I do dress for Halloween, I go all out. Im sorry, I know everyone is different, but Im not one to change the way I do things because others may be offended. Maybe its just the northeast in me. I dont apologize when I feel Im right and I dont worry about other people being offended by what I do. As a person all I can manage are my intentions. If I do not intentionally try to offend someone, and they are offended anyway, I find that to be their problem. Not mine.
> I know plenty about the history of blackface.
So you know it is historically offensive, and that it continues to be offensive to this day. Maybe what you don't understand is that "offensive" doesn't capture the breadth of it. Black face is cruel; in America (even today) it is a racist power move to put people in their place. Especially when you know the history and do it anyway.
> I also know this is a Halloween costume. When I dressed up as Homer Simpson I painted my skin yellow.
Interesting. Do you know how many bright yellow-skinned people were enslaved and subjugated in America for hundreds of years?
> This gentleman happens to be a black guy and thats who I was being for Halloween. Not a random DJ. An actual kids personality. So when I do dress for Halloween, I go all out.
Sorry, you've lost me here. You dressed in basically the most easily identifiable costume that a person could put on. Nobody dresses like DJ Lance Rock. Not a single person who knows that character would be confused about who you were dressed as, even if you left the offensive brown makeup off. You chose to put that on.
> I dont apologize when I feel Im right and I dont worry about other people being offended by what I do. As a person all I can manage are my intentions.
Nope. You can manage your actions, believe it or not. And your actions today and at that party are pretty inexcusable.
I take back what I said about you and your black friends. I don't believe they exist; if they do, they definitely are uncomfortable with you.
You obviously know zero black people. Im sorry but I really dont think you do. Ive been friends with and worked with many black people for decades now. They dont get offended as easily as you think. Maybe its because they arent 70 years old and never had to deal with Al Jolson making fun of them directly. I dont know. Maybe its because the area where we live just isnt a real PC sensitive place. I dont know. But my friends know me day in and day out. They know if Im doing this for a Halloween costume its coming from a place of being true to the character Im dressing up as. Its not coming from a place of malice. The problem with your way of thinking is that in your eyes intent doesnt matter. And in my eyes and the eyes of my many black friends, thats ALL that matters. They dont respect white people that treat them nice and walk on eggshells because they are scared of offending them. They consider that much more disrespectful then me wearing this costume. Try actually talking to your black friends and asking them what they find offensive instead of just assuming what they should find offensive. You might be surprised.
Your black friends are being polite with you because they don't want to be on the receiving end of your sub-O'Reilly bullshit about "intent" and "being PC." They have the decency to pat you on the head and laugh at your stupid, obviously racist ass.
By the way, there's a key two spots to the right of the "L" key on your keyboard. It's a fucking apostrophe, you troglodyte. Use it in contractions and possessives. You should also throw some goddamn paragraph breaks in there. Your writing, like your reasoning, is making me cross-eyed.
...Sorry guys, I kept it together as long as I could. Here's where I give you the chance to have the last word. Arguing with you is making me dumber.
> Your black friends are being polite with you because they don't want to be on the receiving end of your sub-O'Reilly bullshit about "intent" and "being PC."
Nail on the head.
Being on the receving end on a lot of casual racism it's just easier to fake a laugh and walk away rolling your eyes. It's not worth it to say "Hey that's not cool" because then the casula racist will start screaming about "THE ONLY RACISM IS AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE etc etc":
Do you know his friends personally?
Quit pushing your assumptions as truth.
Everyone has their own opinion. You want to know what really offends black people? The same thing that offends everybody. Someone telling them what they are thinking and how they are feeling. My friends dont hide their feelings when they get mad about something. If they are offended or disagree with my opinions they have no problem voicing it. They dont get a rant. We discuss our points of view without calling each other names. Its a shame you cant do the same. Sorry, I dont bother with apostrophes when typing on message boards. Something else that obviously offends you I see.
> You want to know what really offends black people? The same thing that offends everybody.
TLDR: White guy is ambassador and speaker of all white people
I'm honestly kind of embarrassed for you - clearly you're not KKK racist but you are definitely constantly making people feel uncomfortable around you and the thing you don't realize is that they understand it's not worth bringing it up with you because of how you act in response (case in point, all your replies).
Again. Just assuming what other people feel and do. Nobody feels uncomfortable around me. If they did, they would stop hanging around me. I dont hang out with passive aggressive people.
> Nobody feels uncomfortable around me.
You keep telling yourself that bud.
Look dude, the thing is even if your supposed black friends are not outwardly offended by your use of black face the grand majority of us are. And I'm willing to bet that at the very least you make them extremely uncomfortable with this costume.
I have a large group of white friends who think nigger is the best word out there, they use it conversationally almost. I fucking hate it. Every time i hear one of them say it it takes everything in me not to get angry knowing that it serves no point. They will keep saying shit like that regardless and ill just be down a friend. The people in your life likely feel the same way, they value your friendship but despise your casual racism.
How are you going to get on people for "assuming what other people feel and do" when multiple times people have told you explicitly why they think the costume is offensive and you refuse to believe they're not just being offended for the sake of being offended? It seems like you think this is a right worth fighting over. Is that the case?
You know how you titled your thread "this will get downvoted but..."?
You know that blackface makes people uncomfortable.
>Just assuming what other people feel and do.
>>Nobody feels uncomfortable around me.
These sentences were consecutive
You don't know any Black people. That's the first lie dudes on Reddit run to.
Am Jolson was actually one of the few white performers that the black community had no problems with going blackface. So I don't think 70 year olds would be that mad at Al Jolson but you're the one that has known many black people over the decades.
Why don't you hang out at the black-people subs on reddit and see what they think of people like you?
I didnt know theirewere "black people subs". WTF does that even mean? That sounds pretty racist to me, but please, keep preaching.
Right
The outrage isn't fake. We're not your friends, we don't know you, nor do we know your intentions. You showed an image of yourself in blackface to a bunch of strangers and expected a standing ovation?
No, I expected downvotes, cant you read?
So you expected downvotes, you expected people would be offended, you expected people wouldn't like it and you expected people would take issue with the picture. So, why did you post it again? To make some kind of stupid point? To purposely offend people? Just to be a douchebag?
So you wanted to play the martyr over what, your godgiven right to wear blackface?
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Wow, what an edgy little cuntnugget you are
>cuntnugget
I feel like this should be hyphenated but I'm not sure why.
I think it's a combination of cunt nugget being two words along with this rule:
Generally, hyphenate two or more words when they come before a noun they modify and act as a single idea. This is called a compound adjective. When a compound adjective follows a noun, a hyphen may or may not be necessary. However, some established compound adjectives are always hyphenated.
I think it's the proximity of the two "n"s