AyuHikaru wrote:Blackface is also something that's offensive in America, generally. In fact the Dutch still celebrate "Zwarte Piet" in which they... cover themselves in blackface and honor their version of Santa's little helper.
In America is became taboo to ever attempt such a thing, but it's not in a lot of other countries. We Americans need to remember our rules don't exactly apply once outside our borders. It's not just ignorance of the Japanese.
Excerpt from an article:
In the U.K., however, the popular television program The Black and White Minstrel Show, which featured white performers in dark makeup, wigs, and white lips, ran on the BBC from 1958 until 1978, attracting an audience of millions of viewers. Even today, the legacies of blackface survives in countries all over the world—accompanied by varying degrees of condemnation. The comics character Memín Pinguín remains popular in Mexico, and even came out in postage stamps in 2005, despite criticism that the character is depicted using racist iconography. In the Netherlands and Belgium, where Lt. Dratwa is originally from, they celebrate the holidays with Zwarte Piet (literally “Black Pete”), once thought to be Santa’s slave, and now a dark-skinned, wigged, and big-lipped helper. In 2009, Harry Connick Jr. was stunned when, while appearing on a reunion special of an Australian variety show, he was asked to judge a blackface performance of a group calling themselves the Jackson Jive. While the judges gave the performance low scores, many in the audience cheered, and Connick asked to address the camera to explain why it was so offensive to him as an American. In Germany, performances by actors in blackface are still relatively common, though many Germans insist that these depictions are not racist but simply arise from a shortage of black actors. A billboard in Berlin that featured a comedian posing in blackface with the caption “Ick bin ein Obama” (“I am an Obama”) similarly attracted protests from black Germans, but the comedian denied that he was participating in any racist tradition. South Africa has held a minstrel festival in Cape Town since the 1860s, though these days it’s carried on as a subversive act. In Japan, a trend called ganguro (literally “black face”) caught on in the mid-1990s as a way to rebel against traditional Japanese notions of beauty, but the fashion differs widely from blackface iconography, usually featuring girls in long blond wigs.
It's ignorance of a lot of the world.
I don't really see how it being ignorance, absolves the act from being racist? Racist shit is racist shit, no matter what. You're essentially saying that we should accept it, because the world doesn't know better? We should hold ourselves to higher standards. And if anything, that article you reference (without linking to) just goes to further show that Minstrel shit isn't just an American problem, it's very much a
world problem-- the part about protests in Germany for instance. Thanks to American Imperialism importing Minstrel Shows out to the world, the fact that Minstrel Shows and their offshoots are racist is no longer just an American issue or belief. It's just that stateside we're more likely to bring it up/teach about it.
Yeah yeah, in the Netherlands they celebrated zwarte piet, but you'd better believe that the black people there and their allies
weren't taking that shit lying down. It's just that black people are a small minority in the EU, along with several of the other aforementioned places, so their voices were often stamped out by idiots touting zwarte piet/other blackface caricatures/minstrel shows as harmless tradition (and lets not even get started on self-loathing blacks, colorism, and the pressure of a society that has conditioned us to accept racist stuff without much of a fuss). Every time blackface pops up world wide, the minorities affected in the respective country it happens in, do stand up against it, so it isn't just something Americans take offense to. I can think of the Australian fashion mag, which had models in blackface receiving backlash. Or (in Australia again) some girl had a blackface birthday party and put pics up on FB, and her page got lit up with people who called the act out for the racist shit it was.
Also ganguro/yamamba once again, doesn't have roots in minstrel shows, the name (yamamba specifically) comes from Japanese folklore about the mountain hag, and the style is an extreme take on the SoCal valley girl who tans/bleaches her hair.Anyhow, if we were to somehow remove historical context from the equation entirely, it's still just a
really crass and poorly crafted joke. The funny aspect here is supposed to be "ha-ha they're painted black, just like black people. Look at how ridiculous they look." The whole basis of this joke is to laugh at how a black person looks. It's making a mockery of actual people/a skintone. And that alone, that my mere existence with brown skin is something to be made a joke of, is racist and hurtful as shit. And there is no way that you could possibly be ignorant of something as basic as mockery.
AyuHikaru wrote:Should we decry it? YES. Should we blame 5 girls who have no idea of the social impact? NO.
You do not fight racism with "Well they did this thing now I hate them" you fight it with education. I say this as someone who was once married to a black man.
These two things are not mutually exclusive, seeing as to decry the racist act, we would have to hold Momoclo/their management/the show accountable
because of the social implications. I don't hate them at all, I'm just disappointed and listening to Momoclo stuff without wincing now will be quite a feat.
I say this, as an actual black person.
Denki wrote:(And I do specify African Americans because, based on those comments, South Africans don't see it offensive?)
Self-loathing is very real thing.