Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
For those that are unaware of the controversy, the following is a video concerning the infamous comment she made:
One thing that stands out is when Megyn Kelly said “when I was a kid it was okay as long as you were dressing up as a character.”
Megyn Kelly is 47 years old. She was born on November 18th, 1970. I’m sure towards the late 60’s and early 70’s racism was still prominent in a lot of sectors in society. Considering she is from Champaign, Illinois, to Dewitt New York, I’m sure she had seen and witnessed some racism against people of color in one form or another whether she knew or not.
What I do every year especially when I have these little discussions with my Caucasian friends is discuss the whole issue with “blackface.” I never really start these conversations it usually comes up in casual discourse which of course one of my comrades always sway the conversation of “is it okay if my kid dresses up as blade, because that is his favorite character?”
In like, I usually respond “do what you want, HOWEVER...” then I usually have to inform them on the sensitivity on the subject of portraying oneself as a character of a different ethnicity. Unfortunately, and contrary to popular opinion, we do not live in a post-racial society. Although our society is currently progressive, we still have issues with race and racism today.
Of course you’ll get the people who respond in regards to the refutation of living in a post racial society by saying:
“Why can’t we just take the words of Morgan Freeman and just stop talking about it?”
In kind, I respond that racism like a disease must be acknowledged and confronted with the antidote of reason. Cancer doesn’t go away when we stop talking about it or stop making others aware. Like cancer, contracting it can be both biological and/or environmental, although not biological per se, racism is very much environmental and learned. Blackface being a symptom of that racism must be combatted with reason and knowledge that it is wrong.
Shall I remind people that blackface is not just about portraying a character, historically it created a caricature of African-American men and women using stereotypical features that were often exaggerated. Stereotypes of this kind were often associated with African-Americans historically in a pejorative way as branding black people and pairing is with certain certain foods.
See the following short video:
For the record I, and many other African-Americans do not speak like what is portrayed in the above video. But historically we are often associated with degenerate behavior, often we are considered buffoons, aloof, automatons, incapable of being free thinking human beings without reason.
I’m 36 years old and even growing up I was taught the history of why portraying African-Americans was wrong. These were decades upon decades (even centuries) of negative portrayals of African-Americans (Starting with William Shakespeare). In theater, African-Americans were always portrayed by whites with the aforementioned stereotypical traits portraying the false narrative of who African-Americans are.
“Shawn and Marlon Wayans made a movie called White Chicks so how fair is that? It sounds hypocritical.”
Sure it’s a movie based on stereotypes and sure I’ll use that and a few movies or acts by comedians to compare against centuries old portrayal of early Africans and African-Americans but I ask, is it a real comparison of the few acts in film compared to literature and centuries of history where African-Americans were negatively portrayed by Caucasians in the United States as well as elsewhere? Not to mention African-Americans living under a system of racism as if not oppressed enough.
But hey like the Kepernick situation or black lives matter, African-Americans can tirelessly explain why such and such is wrong culturally, people will continue to be willfully ignorant. So to make the moral of this thread palatable I will end with the following short video why it’s wrong:
One thing that stands out is when Megyn Kelly said “when I was a kid it was okay as long as you were dressing up as a character.”
Megyn Kelly is 47 years old. She was born on November 18th, 1970. I’m sure towards the late 60’s and early 70’s racism was still prominent in a lot of sectors in society. Considering she is from Champaign, Illinois, to Dewitt New York, I’m sure she had seen and witnessed some racism against people of color in one form or another whether she knew or not.
What I do every year especially when I have these little discussions with my Caucasian friends is discuss the whole issue with “blackface.” I never really start these conversations it usually comes up in casual discourse which of course one of my comrades always sway the conversation of “is it okay if my kid dresses up as blade, because that is his favorite character?”
In like, I usually respond “do what you want, HOWEVER...” then I usually have to inform them on the sensitivity on the subject of portraying oneself as a character of a different ethnicity. Unfortunately, and contrary to popular opinion, we do not live in a post-racial society. Although our society is currently progressive, we still have issues with race and racism today.
Of course you’ll get the people who respond in regards to the refutation of living in a post racial society by saying:
“Why can’t we just take the words of Morgan Freeman and just stop talking about it?”
In kind, I respond that racism like a disease must be acknowledged and confronted with the antidote of reason. Cancer doesn’t go away when we stop talking about it or stop making others aware. Like cancer, contracting it can be both biological and/or environmental, although not biological per se, racism is very much environmental and learned. Blackface being a symptom of that racism must be combatted with reason and knowledge that it is wrong.
Shall I remind people that blackface is not just about portraying a character, historically it created a caricature of African-American men and women using stereotypical features that were often exaggerated. Stereotypes of this kind were often associated with African-Americans historically in a pejorative way as branding black people and pairing is with certain certain foods.
See the following short video:
For the record I, and many other African-Americans do not speak like what is portrayed in the above video. But historically we are often associated with degenerate behavior, often we are considered buffoons, aloof, automatons, incapable of being free thinking human beings without reason.
I’m 36 years old and even growing up I was taught the history of why portraying African-Americans was wrong. These were decades upon decades (even centuries) of negative portrayals of African-Americans (Starting with William Shakespeare). In theater, African-Americans were always portrayed by whites with the aforementioned stereotypical traits portraying the false narrative of who African-Americans are.
“Shawn and Marlon Wayans made a movie called White Chicks so how fair is that? It sounds hypocritical.”
Sure it’s a movie based on stereotypes and sure I’ll use that and a few movies or acts by comedians to compare against centuries old portrayal of early Africans and African-Americans but I ask, is it a real comparison of the few acts in film compared to literature and centuries of history where African-Americans were negatively portrayed by Caucasians in the United States as well as elsewhere? Not to mention African-Americans living under a system of racism as if not oppressed enough.
But hey like the Kepernick situation or black lives matter, African-Americans can tirelessly explain why such and such is wrong culturally, people will continue to be willfully ignorant. So to make the moral of this thread palatable I will end with the following short video why it’s wrong:
Last edited:
