Under Review: The Troubling Resurgence of Blackface
This week, we bear witness against the recent barrage of pop culture minstrelsy.
By Cord Jefferson, Kay Steiger, Delaney Rohan, and Andrew Bluebond
November 6, 2009
Another Halloween has come and gone, and in its sugary wake two more rather stupefying blackface scandals have surfaced. It seems that every Oct. 31, at least a handful of ignorant partygoers up and slather themselves in brown greasepaint in an attempt to look black. Instead they wind up looking dumb, mean, and totally void of any sense of American history.
This year, the main offenders were 21-year-old Whitney Isleib, a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who painted her whole body brown for a Lil Wayne costume and two Northwestern athletes, one of whom went as a “Jamaican” and the other as a female tennis player (Serena Williams perhaps).
Sadly, these are just the latest in a recent spate of blackface incidents, a troubling, ugly deluge that belies the idea we live in a post-racial society.
Tyra Banks’ brand of diversity. (CW)
"Let’s Go Surfing"
America’s Next Top Model
Cycle 13, Episode 9
Aired: Oct. 28, 2009
Tyra Banks may be attempting to build her own commercial empire, but she doesn’t appear to have learned tact along the way. In a recent episode of America’s Next Top Model, apparently inspired by President Barack Obama’s bi-racial background, Banks challenged the models to pose as a "happa," a Hawaiian word that means racially half and half. The result was ultimately a distasteful decision to paint the white models in blackface.
Not only did the episode seem to strangely conflate race with nationality or ethnicity—some models were assigned "races" such as Polynesian, Tibetian, Russian, Native American, and Greek—but it also encouraged drastic racial stereotyping. "These may not be outfits these people are wearing today," Banks said excitedly. "It’s a fashion interpretation." Such "fashion interpretations" included placing a feather headdress on Brittany, the model depicting the East Indian/Native American "happa" (weirdly enough another headpiece was rejected because it was too "literal"). Nicole, one of the models, exclaimed as she narrated her photo shoot, said, "I really looked exotic!"
Perhaps what’s most tragic about Banks’ misguided photoshoot is that minorities are practically absent in the pages of fashion magazines and on runways at major fashion shows. Women’s Wear Daily reported that in 2007, more than a third of runway shows during New York Fashion Week depicted no African American models and the rest featured only one or two per show. The New York Times even reported that some clients send requests to agencies that specify "Caucasians only." It’s true that high fashion has long had a diversity problem, but Banks’ photoshoot went a step further: ANTM depicted horrifying racial stereotypes and fetishization of "bi-racial" models.
Offensiveness rating: 10 – This is proof yet again that, no matter how many shows she gets, Tyra Banks will never be Oprah.
-Kay Steiger
Not the change we wish to see.
“Obama’s Magic Show”
Aired: January 20, 2009
Though you may not hear much about it, racism–not just towards Koreans and Chinese–is alive and well in Japan. From Black Sambo dolls to prominent political strategists calling blacks irresponsible, there are examples of prejudice against people of color all over the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact, Robert Jefferson, a black radio correspondent for ABC News in Tokyo, told Time magazine that Japanese citizens sometimes avoid even sitting next to him on trains.
And so it follows that blackface has found a home in Japan. Consider this Japanese variety show, which used brown stage makeup to darken two performers dressed as Barack and Michelle Obama. Elsewhere on the country’s cultural landscape, blackface has an interesting place in hip-hop culture, with artists donning brown face paint more as homage to perceived African-American hipness than a mockery. In context, we can better understand why a Japanese TV show would use blackface when depicting the First Family: accuracy.
Minstrel shows, where blackface originated, were never part of Japanese history. And most Japanese were not introduced to blacks until after World War II, when African-American soldiers occupying Japan lived in barracks segregated from their white counterparts’ quarters. Following 1951’s Treaty of San Francisco, Japan’s ethnically homogenous population and isolated development contributed to a culture that is not intentionally racist, but insensitive toward non-Japanese peoples. Thus, neo-minstrelsy.
Offensiveness rating: 6 – The blackface on the variety show was unfortunate, and probably hurtful to many who saw it; however, it doesn’t come with the same malicious cultural and historical implications that it does in the United States.
-Andrew Bluebond
I’m too sexy for my dignity.
French Vogue
Released: October 2009
Last month’s issue of French Vogue was quite the paradox: a bastion of beautiful modern fashion that occasionally relied on ugly archaic blackface.
Working with editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, photographer Steven Klein put Dutch model Lara Stone in full-body brown makeup, thereby causing a firestorm over what should have been just another bland 14-page fashion editorial.
Though France, like Japan, doesn’t have a disturbing history of minstrelsy—and thus a particularly valid reason to avoid blackface—Klein is an American trained in classical imagery, so he must have known that a revolting narrative underpinned the shoot.
What’s more, considering the notorious dearth of black models currently working in high-fashion, Vogue’s use of a white woman in black makeup, instead of a real black model, exacerbates the photos’ already sharp sting.
Offensiveness rating: 9 – It’s not artsy or avant-garde, it’s wildly inappropriate for a variety of reasons.
-Cord Jefferson
I come from a land down under…and in the distant past.
“The Jackson Jive”
Apparently, blackface is still hilarious down under. As we reported here before, on October 7, Australian variety show Hey Hey, It’s Saturday aired a song and dance routine by Jackson family impersonators “The Jackson Jive.” Not only was it a disgrace to a great Jackson Five song, “Can You Feel It,” but five of the members were made-up in black face. The Michael Jackson impersonator was coated in white makeup.
Harry Connick Jr., a guest judge for the program, was visibly offended, giving the performance a zero and later discussing his discomfort with the studio audience. Nevertheless, another judge, oblivious to blatantly racial overtones, complemented the group’s choreography, called the performance “cute,” and rated it a seven.
While the show’s host eventually apologized for the act, it was all-too-quickly explained away through invocations of Aussie-American cultural misunderstanding. Certainly, Australia doesn’t have the same history of minstrel performances that have plagued America’s past. But just because blackface has an especially problematic history in the US doesn’t completely excuse the Aussie’s behavior.
“It’s just a show,” they say. “No harm was meant.” But history does not agree with the excuses. Portrayal of black slaves has a history in 15th century Portugal, and more modern manifestations of blackface were popularized in America in 1769 by the British, long before Australia officially gained autonomy in 1900.
Offensiveness rating: 8 – This was a doozie; thank goodness crooner Connick was there to save the day.
-Delaney Rohan
Cord Jefferson is an associate editor at Campus Progress. Kay Steiger is the editor of Campus Progress. Delaney Rohan is an editorial intern for Campus Progress and a grad student at American University. Andrew Bluebond is a junior at Claremont McKenna College.
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Blackface has it’s roots in the “Sambo” image of the African American as ignorant and submissive. Before we can flirt with the possibilities of its use for comedy we all have a lot of discussion and healing to do.
I think it’s important to support multiculturalism and to have cultures intermesh, but blackface is too racially loaded to do that intermeshing.
My friend Ronald Riqueros, for example, made an entry in a photo contest featuring two equally strong looking people: one black and one white, one male and one female. Vote for his entry “Branded” at axsolarstyle.com to show your support and always keep an open mind.
Peace,
— Steven Larmore - Nov 14, 05:26 PM - #Steven
Blackface has it’s roots in the “Sambo” image of the African American as ignorant and submissive. Before we can flirt with the possibilities of its use for comedy we all have a lot of discussion and healing to do.
I think it’s important to support multiculturalism and to have cultures intermesh, but blackface is too racially loaded to do that intermeshing.
My friend Ronald Riqueros, for example, made an entry in a photo contest featuring two equally strong looking people: one black and one white, one male and one female. Vote for his entry “Branded” at axsolarstyle.com to show your support and always keep an open mind.
Even though it might not seem like such an issue in the city, this is still a huge issue in the nowheres of America.
Peace,
— Steven Larmore - Nov 14, 05:27 PM - #Steven