James Braxton Peterson on Duke University's "Institutional Blackface"

Institutional Blackface

by James Braxton Peterson | HuffPost BlackVoices

For those that do not know, I am a proud graduate of Duke University (Class of '93). As a black alumnus of one of the greatest universities in the world with a troublesome history with race and racism, I am often treated to the highs and lows of the Duke experience. Last week was no different as members of the Duke University Black Alumni Committee reached out to me to begin the process of organizing an event featuring myself, the NBA's Grant Hill, the Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson and others to commemorate the 50-year celebration of the presence of black students at Duke – yes, it's only been 50 years. Duke beat Kentucky – i.e. Duke men's basketball beat the University of Kentucky – and this is always good. But in addition to these great moments – moments that make me proud to be a Duke grad, we were once again treated to the insensitive (and now common) practice of white undergraduates who "dress up" as black characters and blacken up their faces in order to do so. Sigh.

Halloween is a holiday that I generally dread anyway since wearing a (figurative) mask for me and for many of my ancestors was a necessary strategy deployed regularly and specifically for the sake of subverting white supremacy. But because I am a professor, former grad student, etc., the Halloween holiday also means that I have been perennially treated to seriously demeaning tricks. White students put on blackface at Halloween, take pictures and generally circulate and celebrate their "costumes." I think of this as the "southern strategy" of the Halloween holiday. Young white folks, usually male, are able to express their racial and racist angst (conscious and subconscious) in a space and at a time that for the most part sanctions backwards, demeaning behavior. This has happened at everyinstitution of higher learning at which I have ever worked or learned. It is strategic because the blackfacers almost never face the facts of our dark American history and almost always claim ignorance in the aftermath of outrage and the pain communicated (perennially) by the black university communities that must bare witness to these regular insults.

For the few of you out there who do not know the history of blackface minstrelsy please allow me to provide you with an ever-so-brief primer. In the 19th century, white performers blackened their faces and aped the most stereotypical, dehumanizing, and demeaning "characteristics" of black people. This practice became one of America's first popular forms of entertainment. Its pervasiveness contributed to the American narratives of race that considered black people to be less than human, "other" and utterly unworthy of citizenship, much less equality. Eventually black entertainers blackened their own faces and exploited America's appetite for the destruction of black humanity. This not-too-distant history is a painful reminder – I guess only to black people – of the awful history of racism in America. That it can be so cavalierly and regularly referenced with no sense of this history or with feigned ignorance of said history is even more troubling than the wearing of blackface in the first place.

But this incident stings a bit more, not just because it's my alma mater, but because of the fact that a head coach of a Division I sports team was not aware that a student athlete engaging in this kind of act might not be a good look for the team, the program, or the university; that a web administrator could/would post this on the Duke Athletics Department website without any thought or consideration of how it might offend Duke alum, current Duke students and faculty is also absolutely striking. I despise these kinds of analogies, but imagine the Duke Athletic Department posting a picture of a student athlete dressed as a Nazi soldier. Yes, the cavalier wearing of blackface offends me that much. It harkens back to a history in this country where everything from entertainment to labor, from religion, to education, everything, was systemically designed to destroy the humanity of people who look just like me – people from whom I am descended.

I could rail on, but instead I would like to make an announcement. I am hereby formally offering my services as an advisor, professor, and/or consultant [PRO BONO] to any institution with which I have ever been affiliated for me to come in during any first-year orientation, diversity "training" or other opportunity, to address this issue specifically and to place in its full context the wearing of blackface on college campuses. For some time now, I have been less and less offended by the students who actually do this, and more and more amazed that some of our greatest educational institutions are incapable of appreciating how painful and embarrassing this pervasive practice has become.

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James Braxton Peterson is the Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University. He is also the founder of Hip Hop Scholars, LLC, an association of Hip Hop generational scholars dedicated to researching and developing the cultural and educational potential of Hip Hop, urban, and youth cultures. Peterson has appeared on Fox News, CBS, MSNBC, ABC News, ESPN, and various local television networks as an expert on race, politics, and popular culture.Follow James Peterson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrJamesPeterson

Just Say No to Blackface: Neo-Minstrelsy and the Power to Dehumanize

Just Say No to Blackface: Neo-Minstrelsy and the Power to Dehumanize

by David J. Leonard | HuffPost BlackVoices

In recent weeks, social media was set ablaze with news that an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn donned blackface and simulated prison rape in pictures taken while he was a college student. Troubling and offensive on some many levels, these photos are particularly disturbing given that as a DA in Brooklyn—as part of the criminal justice system that puts black and brown youth behind bars in disproportionate numbers—Mr. Justin Marrus has tremendous power in his community. Further undermining confidence in a criminal justice system that has proven itself to be hostile to communities of color, the sight of Mr. Marrus mocking and disparaging leaves me wondering how these past practices shape his present role as a prosecutor.

Jorge Rivas at Colorlines describes the photos of Justin Marrus as follows:

In one picture -- from an album called "Halloween" -- Marrus sports blackface, a wig made of what appears to be dreadlocks and a tie-dyed T-shirt. "What part of Jamaica you from mon? da beach mon," the caption reads. A second photo -- from an album called "Courthouse for 4th of July" -- shows Marrus and another man simulating sex in what looks to be a cell with white bars.

The sight of his finding pleasure in the simulation of prison rape, his posing with his friends with a fake confederate flag tattoo, and his engaging in the time-honored tradition of blackface, should give us all pause for thought.

Ignoring the fact that the pictures remained on Facebook for six years - evidence that Marrus saw little wrong with them - a DA spokesman defended his colleague: "This is something he did about six years ago while he was in college. He apologized. He admits it was childish and inappropriate." Others, such as Sharon Toomer, have rightly criticized Mr. Marrus. Toomer describes Marrus's actions as a sign of his sense of "entitlement and privilege" and she calls upon all of us to take this matter seriously:

Through my lens as a Black and Latino woman, a taxpayer and a human being, I view these images as dehumanizing, degrading, arrogant, racist and problematic for a public institution. My lens is not that of White men or women, or even Black men and women who are so jaded by the work they do as prosecutors, that they fail to see or connect the dots on how ADA Marrus' past thought and actions may influence his current and future decision-making. A 'let's give him a break and see what happens' is too great a risk for my community.

Although some may dismiss the photos and Mr. Marrus' behavior as youthful indiscretion, as something of the past, and as harmless, these photos point to a larger history, one that whites have yet to reconcile within contemporary culture.

The practice of white students donning blackface is not an isolated incident but reflects a larger trend at North America's college's and universities. Although these spectacles usually take place outside the view of the public at large, the minstrel tradition is alive and well at North American universities. Tim Wise, in "Majoring in Minstrelsy: White Students, Blackface and the Failure of Mainstream Multiculturalism," notes that during the 2006-2007 school year there were 15 publicly known instances of racial mockery. He describes this practice:

For some, it means dressing up in blackface. For others, a good time means throwing a "ghetto party," in which they don gold chains, afro wigs, and strut around with 40 ounce bottles of malt liquor, mocking low-income black folks. For still others, hoping to spread around the insults a bit, fun is spelled, "Tacos and Tequila," during which bashes students dress up as maids, landscapers, or pregnant teenagers so as to make fun of Latino/as.

At the core of these spectacles is a sense of power and superiority. These students feel they have the right to mock and degrade black and brown people. Moreover, because the longer history of blackface is neither taught in schools nor discussed intelligently in the mainstream media, these spectacles also reflect widespread ignorance about the social, political, and cultural implications of minstrelsy. In any case, we see white privilege in action. We see the impact of having citizens that "know little about the history of how ghetto communities were created by government and economic elites, to the detriment of those who live there." We see the consequences and manifestations of ignorance in operation; we see what happens when American racial history is erased from textbooks; we see what happens when whites are more likely to come in contact with people of color through pop culture stereotypes than through personal contact. Evident with Marrus, and with the countless incidents on college campuses, this mix of privilege and ignorance is a recipe for continued racism.

Ignorance, however, is no excuse.

The ability to be ignorant, to be unaware of the history and consequences of racial bigotry, to simply do as one pleases, is a quintessential element of privilege. The ability to disparage, to demonize, to ridicule, and to engage in racially hurtful practices from the comfort of one's segregated neighborhoods and racially homogeneous schools reflects both privilege and power. The ability to blame others for being oversensitive, for playing the race card, or for making much ado about nothing are privileges codified structurally and culturally.

There is no acceptable reason to ever don blackface. It's not a joke; it isn't funny. No claims about humor or creative license can ever make it okay. Blackface is part of a history of dehumanization, of denied citizenship, and of efforts to excuse and justify state violence. From lynchings to mass incarceration, whites have utilized blackface (and the resulting dehumanization) as part of its moral and legal justification for violence. It is time to stop with the dismissive arguments those that describe these offensive acts as pranks, ignorance and youthful indiscretions. Blackface is never a neutral form of entertainment, but an incredibly loaded site for the production of damaging stereotypes...the same stereotypes that undergird individual and state violence, American racism, and a centuries worth of injustice.

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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of the just released After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press) as well as several other works. Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan, layupline, Feminist Wire, and Urban Cusp. He is frequent contributor to Ebony, Slam, and Racialicious as well as a past contributor to Loop21, The Nation and The Starting Five.  He blogs @No Tsuris.

Blackface 2nd-grader--Dressed as MLK--Stirs Controversy