Blackface

Just don’t do it. You may think it’s funny and harmless, but it’s really not. Do you really want to join the ranks of racists, such as the minstrel actors of the 19^th century that guy who dressed up as dead Trayvon Martin for Halloween? I don’t think there is any hope for that guy who dressed up as Trayvon Martin and his horrid friends. Their actions show such a profound hatred and disrespect as they eagerly and joyfully recreate the violence perpetrated on the black community. They’re lost causes.

But for other people, people who aren’t hateful to the core, what on earth would possess you to engage in this racist tradition? Last night I went to sleep crying after watching and episode of 30 Rock in which one of the characters dressed up in blackface for Halloween. That act in and of itself is seemingly benign, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It exists within this troubling history and very real current problem of racism in the United States. By referencing that deeply racist tradition, even in jest, you are reinflicting wounds, the depths of which you cannot even begin to understand.