[yasmin1101]

Jean-Louis Catiouceca
Khan Waqas
Sharpe Ricardo
Alghazali Yasmin
Prof. Choi
English 1101
Group Open Letter

Dear People Who Are Pro Blackface,
How would you feel if you had people dressed up as you for halloween and didn’t do it out of admiration of you rather disgust and discrimination? Well many black people nowadays are facing this racism on halloween in which white people, particularly, walk around with black faces and sometimes use tan sprays to make their skin color darker. It doesn’t even have to be halloween to have someone dress up in blackface and going around and insulting black people. Most people don’t know the history of blackface, blackface appropriation, or even how blackface affects society specifically black people.
Blackface has been in history since the 1830s and was known as theatrical makeup used by non blacks performers to imitate a black person in a very exaggerated way. Various aspects of African American culture were appropriated and used for profit to entertain the public until the 1840s came along and then even some blacks started to use blackface when acting as well. This became extremely popular until the 1900s in which blackface had become known everywhere. Blackface has become exposed to many places around the world whether it be America, England, Africa, or even Eastern countries where they all misuse the theatrical idea of blackface. Many began using blackface as stereo typical and an insult to black people making them feel bad.
Many people do not understand why apparently the simple act of a white person darkening his skin like a black person at Halloween or just for fun can be offensive. Even if it’s to honor a favorite entertainer, celebrity, or sports figure, it is an unacceptable act to do. It is inappropriate because the blackface tradition is founded consequent to impose stereotypes of Black people. Dressing up in blackface invokes representations of unflattering images of blacks as lazy, unintelligent and criminal in nature. Cultural appropriation is important to consider during Halloween time because this is the time of year when we are most likely to dress up in a costume that is representative of another culture without taking into consideration the different aspects and cultural backgrounds of that minimized ethnic group or culture. Blackface is a cultural appropriation because primarily, the very need to use black makeup as part of the process of portraying black people reveals an attempt to establish an essential difference between black and white individuals. It precisely shows a feature of biological racism, which promote that the physical features of Africans were visible evidence that black people were inferior to white people and therefore that they could justifiably be enslaved. People wearing blackface may claim they don’t believe in the biological inferiority of black people, but their insistence on dark makeup, is evidence of their ongoing racist actions of skin color differences. In this way, blackface is dehumanizing.
Is it really necessary for non black people to wear black face?. Almost every black person has been a victim of disrespect and racism all over the world.In the western world black people are known as criminals and street people, while in the third world countries if a person is black with he/she is ugly. Majority of the people wants to be white to look good. According to CNN a Thai beauty claim that white skin is the key to success. And then the same people who are mocking black skin wants to put black face for halloweens and to make fun of black people, without knowing what black people would be going through. Puting black face can hurt black individuals socially, emotionally, politically and can lead to anger which might harm many communities because of confused misunderstandings. It also put hatred in their heart toward other races that might feel insecure and helpless because of their ethnicity. If you can not appreciate black culture at least don’t try to show that you actually do and just make fun of it.
As you can see blackface is something that shouldn’t be joked about, this is an issue that has been going on dating back all the way to the 1800s. The portrayal of blackface was not only a false representation of black people it was an offensive form of propaganda to the mass public because most people were led to believe that’s how black people carry themselves. Having blackface still being a topic in the 21st century shows you that this is clearly still relevant and the idea of blackface hasn’t completely gone away. It is a very sensitive topic and although times are much different people misinterpret blackface and view it in a different light without knowing the background which is why it is extremely important to know the history behind it before going into such a controversial issue.