Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 05-17-2012, 02:22 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
36,499 posts, read 53,793,424 times
Reputation: 47905

Advertisements

I think this is ridiculous. This child and his family were very respectful and only trying to do an accurate portrayal for a school project. They were not making fun or acting like fools. At our school we have Wax Museum in 3rd grade and many students put black on their faces if their assigned historical figure is of a darker complexion than the student. What do you think?

MLK Black Face Causes Stir At School - ABC News
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-17-2012, 03:35 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,702 posts, read 79,372,236 times
Reputation: 39415
I think this is supidity by the school administrators. If they did a play featuring MLK and had no balck people toplay the role woudl they not put black makeup on the actor? If they didn't it would look pretty stupid. MLK was black. He was proud to be black, why should the kid playing MLK not make himself black? Wouldn;t some people be offended ot see MLK portrayed as a white guy? I think that would be more offensive to the supersensative. They are going to prohibit anything that is offensive? What is someone is offended by the head scarf of a moslem girl? What if my son is offended by guys who wear pink shirts. I am offended by kids wearing $300 Nikes. Will they ban that? Silly

He could have done a better job though. He looks ridiculous and it looks like a hitler moustache not a MLK moustache, but she should not be sent home for doing a bad job. He tried and got creative, He should have been rewarded, not castigated.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2012, 04:29 PM
 
17,183 posts, read 22,764,827 times
Reputation: 17472
I do think this was a dumb move by the school.

I actually don't think the black makeup job was bad though the hitler moustache was not a good choice.

Why shouldn't the teachers use this as a teaching opportunity to perhaps explain to the kids what black face used to mean? In other contexts, it is certainly offensive, but not in this one. The student obviously respected Dr. King and wanted to portray him as accurately as he could.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2012, 09:57 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
36,499 posts, read 53,793,424 times
Reputation: 47905
Well the kid learned a lot today but not about MLK Jr. He learned grownups can be jerks and make ridiculous mistakes which expose themselves as total fools.

He also learned that his parents are strong and principled people who will stand up for the truth. But did he learn a thing about racial tolerance or use of blackface to humiliate and denigrate black folks? Did he learn how blackface in entertainment even came about? I doubt it. What a missed opportunity by the teacher, school and administration.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2012, 01:10 AM
 
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
16,401 posts, read 30,815,771 times
Reputation: 16642
Any they wonder why everyone is growing up and being manipulated by race in this country.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2012, 02:28 AM
 
13,499 posts, read 18,092,190 times
Reputation: 37885
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
I think this is supidity by the school administrators. If they did a play featuring MLK and had no balck people toplay the role woudl they not put black makeup on the actor? If they didn't it would look pretty stupid. MLK was black. He was proud to be black, why should the kid playing MLK not make himself black? Wouldn;t some people be offended ot see MLK portrayed as a white guy? I think that would be more offensive to the supersensative. ....
Leaving this second grade silliness and the C-D furor aside, the above point is interesting. I can only imagine that the kid looked like a character from a minstrel show, but that says nothing about the intentions, which were probably simply for realism....however unreal the end result might look.

I have never seen a black actor who is playing Hamlet in the U.S., or the black actors in the recent Shakespeare festival in London playing white characters painted in white makeup. Hamlet was a Dane, and with the exception of Otello, Shakespeare's characters were white Europeans.

I wonder why no whiteface makeup is attempted?

I do remember reading that many years ago that when Leontyne Price, a black opera singer, was singing the white lead in Traviata it was suggested that she wear white makeup. Her response was to the effect that she would look ridiculous.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2012, 02:35 AM
 
13,499 posts, read 18,092,190 times
Reputation: 37885
Quote:
Originally Posted by burgler09 View Post
Any they wonder why everyone is growing up and being manipulated by race in this country.
Because it has been that way since colonial times. Whites are just not used to having the shoe on the other foot.

However, now that the U.S. is officially a minority majority country, perhaps we will have lots of opportunities to get used to it. Or perhaps, as polls seem to indicate, younger Americans of all races increasingly do not give a pig's patootie about race.

That would certainly be a whole new America!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2012, 05:01 AM
 
Location: Jacksonville/Afghanistan
327 posts, read 642,760 times
Reputation: 281
I wouldn't have sent that kid to the principals office based on the fact that I'd be dying of laughter.

Sorry, but kids in blackface is hilarious.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top