Sports announcers of that time often described Boston Celtics player Larry Bird, who is white, as “smart” while describing his black NBA opponents as athletically gifted.
Such racial insensitivities ran rampant in popular culture during the 1980s, the era in which Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the state’s attorney general, Mark Herring, have admitted to wearing blackface as they mimicked pop singer Michael Jackson and rapper Kurtis Blow, respectively.
2 comments:
I do not understand why someone would try to rationalize the use of blackface by a public figure like a governor by claiming it was just normal at the time. Sure it was widely accepted in society, but that does not make it any less racist or wrong. And I believe that it was just as easy to see what was wrong with it then as it is now. People may be more aware of it now, but that does not mean that they were not then. I can not believe that he is still governing Virginia right now. Any way that one tries to justify this is just ridiculous honestly. There is no way around it. Someone who wore blackface in medical school is not qualified to govern a state in the United States of America in 2019. Sure, he could go be a doctor in a private practice where people can choose to use his services or not, but there is no way he should still be governing citizens of our country, especially not black citizens.
The 80s were not really all that long ago. That was the time when most of our parents were in college. I find it hard to believe that blackface was as common and as acceptable then as conservatives are currently claiming it is. Even if it was, as the article points out, there were plenty of groups pushing against it. I believe that someone who actively participated in racist actions should not be in a position of power even if those actions took place in college. I am so sick of people in the government claiming that as college students they were "so young" and "everyone makes mistakes". Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure I am considered a fully legal adult. You don't get a free pass for being a college student. The article claims it was incredibly difficult to understand why blackface was racist unless you went to the library. I don't buy it. These people who are governing us were educated back then and surely had an understanding of what they were doing.
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