Below is a conversation I recently had with one of my (if not, my best) best friends on facebook chat. I discussed with him something that happened at my university that I thought was shameful and moronic.
Me:
cool
so apparently at my school, kids were dressing up for halloween in explicit racist costumes
ffs
"How any constituent groups or individuals in the University could behave with such insensitivity or unawareness is a question we must both ask and answer. Our University is a place of learning and discovery, and there certainly are lessons to be relearned, or even discovered for the first time, from these incidents.
The simplest of those lessons is that costumes that include blackface, or that parody or imitate a person or groups of people, are always offensive to someone."
basically the important part of what I read
Shawn:
mmmhmm
Me:
llol
not at all shocked
really shawn
Shawn:
i dunno, i think people are so serious about race
like sometimes, if u make it funny
its not offensive
Me:
elaborate?
Shawn:
i joke with some people on my floor about them being indian
u could say is racist
but its funny, and nobody gets offended
Me:
It's the same thing as calling a black guy (whom by the way you do not know) a -blam!-. You calling me a dirty Jew or me calling you out for being asian is on a completely different level
Shawn:
like if people didnt take it so seriously, it wouldnt be a big deal
Me:
and the president said it well, as well
Shawn:
said what
Me:
They convey either a lack of awareness about the human condition and human sensitivities or, worse yet, disdain for the thoughts, feelings, histories and experiences of others. They suggest a failure to empathize or even a failure to think. They make all of us small.
Like sorry
Shawn:
lmao
Me:
dressing up as another race is not funny and it tends to exemplify the stereotypes of races
?
Shawn:
i guess
but im jus saying people get way too offended sometimes
Me:
well what does that even mean?
Shawn:
meaning people are too -blam!-en sensitive about race
when it wouldnt be such a big -blam!-en deal
if we all just CALMED DOWN
the more u make a big deal about it, the more u create a divide
Me:
right, but there are two ways to go about in describing and/or presenting your feelings towards other races.
For example: One choice is calling the guy a black person whereas the second choice is calling him a -blam!-. Depending on what you say, you signal to that person how you view them as a person (and their race)
which then in terms describes who you are as a person: disrespectful, etc (the part the president said)
I mean... it's how people make friends and how people make enemies
Shawn:
see thats the thing, if people make it offensive
Me:
it's really quite simple
Shawn:
its offensive
like if its a white power mother-blam!-
screaming -blam!-
then yes, its offensive
but for some kids that are just trying to joke about it
i dont get why people get so offended
Me:
Friends among friends who understand each other
why would it be offensive in the first place?
You're right about that, but that's not at all what the matter is
Shawn:
ok, so whats the matter
the fact that people are insensitive people are?
towards race?
Me:
If you present yourself to people you don't know the way you do with people you "joke around" with, you're sending a negative signal to those people. The way you present your thoughts are perceived in the exclusively denotative form of the expression. Again, call a random black person a -blam!- and something's going to go down. Tell your best pal "you damn -blam!-" and they'll KNOW it doesn't mean anything. The person knows who you are, how you feel about blacks, and is clearly comfortable being with you.
Shawn:
right
i get that
Me:
ok then you should be able to see why parading around the streets dressing up like a black man is NOT something appropriate
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What is your take on racism and the like? How do you go about it? What do you think is the right way to approach differences? Keep this thread clean; coherent replies, no trolling, off topics, etc. Be respectful.
Thank you