Letter: NU: Our campus, our community, our home

Many people on these boards feel that there is a significant difference between "black face" and painting yourself to look like a celebrity. "black face" was a presentation of the generic black man and all the stereotypes that went with it. This student was not portraying a generic black man, nor, as far as i've read, was he promoting any black stereotypes. He was rather paying homage to a black celebrity, just like children who went trick or treating wearing Obama masks. Or do you also believe that it is racist for white children to go out dressed as their president?

Anne i don't think it is necessary to throw away your heritage in order to be post racial. My family is from eastern europe, and i am very proud of my ethnicity. I attended ethnic schools as a child, and still participate in ethnic camps, and dance groups, but what i don't do is force that on other people. I have often seen people wearing clothing with the hammer and sickle, the face of Che Guevara, or other communist symbols. To me those symbols represent murder and genocide, but i accept that to other people, they may mean different things. Being post racial means judging a persons actions and not their skin color. If say a light skinned african american put on black makeup to look like some celebrity who had darker skin, i doubt it would be a big deal. This student is accused of wrong doing not because of his actions, but because of his skin color. You can be proud of race/ethnicity/gender/anything else, without judging other people based on theirs. Maybe racism will never end, but it certainly won't while we are still judging each other based on race.

Race is important, and racial prejudice still exists. If that wasn't obvious on campus before, it certainly is now. No one is "crying wolf" here. I commend Kristen and Sharanya for their willingness to speak up, and I sincerely hope the forum this evening serves to promote unity and to educate the NU community on this serious issue.

Blackface was once upon a time both discriminatory and racist. It was discriminatory because rather than hiring black actors they would just pay white actors to put on makeup whenever they needed a black role. It was racist because it was used to stereotype blacks. This Halloween costume has neither of those aspects. To call it discriminatory is a lack of knowledge of what discrimination means. Who was discriminated against? All the black people who wanted to dress up as bob Marley, but couldn't because this white guy did? To call it racist is simply foolish, this person was not mocking blacking people, he was supporting bob Marley.

I know a young kid who so much admired Obama he dressed up as him for Halloween. To bad you weren't around you could have told him that that's racist. Or is a black mask on a white person not racist? Would a white man wearing a bob Marley mask be racist? There is of course no substantative difference between the 2 except people have been programmed that they just hear the word black face and think bad, evil, racist. I once dressed up as homer simpson and painted my body yellow. I didn't realize at the time I as disparaging my favorite TV show, I thought I was supporting it.

These students were trying to live a post-racial society, one where the color of your skin doesn’t matter. Isn’t that the direction we were supposed to be headed? But clearly their skin color is the only thing that matters because if a black person had worn the exact same costume it would have meant nothing. Clearly society is not ready to forget about race. These students were ready to be post racial, but all those who criticize them cling to race as being desperately important. Many people will never be interested in a society where a man is not judged by the color of his skin.

I think what the writers of this letter and the organizations they represent are entirely missing is the CONTEXT of what happened! Halloween is a silly holiday one day a year where people dress up as silly characters. I've seen guys dress up as rabbis, priests, women and homosexuals (ex: Bruno from the Ali G show). Are these costumes too offensive as well? What happened to freedom of expression? Clearly the purpose and intent of at least the person who dressed up as Bob Marley (I don't know what the other person was) was not too show disrespect. He was Bob Marley (a symbol of peace and respect)! Not Hitler, a Nazi, or a KKK member! Had the student dressed up as just a black man emphasizing stereotypical characteristics then I could completely understand the reaction. Or had the person wore a swastika, where the symbol speaks for itself, then I could understand the reaction. Or had it been on any other day outside of Halloween then I could understand the reaction. But dressing up as Bob Marley on Halloween and painting your face black, to resemble Bob Marley's character more, does not merit the reaction of the writers of this letter and the organizations they represent. I am not advocating that painting your face black is an appropriate Halloween choice, because clearly it has offended some people. However, the way in which the students offended handled this situation was very poor and I question their motives. Rather than confronting the "blackface" students and voicing their opinions and concerns, the offended students living in “the racist world of Northwestern" where there is “hunger, homelessness, sexism, and racism” wrote letters to the President of NU and to the daily calling for Town Hall meetings and a call to action. With all the other problems and places in the world where racism IS ACTUALLY an issue, these writers and organizations are blowing the whistle on something that IN CONTEXT was just a poor choice of costume. I encourage these whistle blowers to go find and fight real problems and real racism in our society. Handle the small stuff responsibly (which is what you haven’t done in this situation) and blow the whistle when you really need to. Otherwise, you simply lose credibility.

-A concerned NU student

P.S. I bet this “call to action against the injustices and racism on NU’s campus” is going to look really good on your resumes. I hope it was worth your credibility.

Also, thank you internet, for proving again that one extreme reaction (outrage) will result in equal and opposite reaction (asshattery by way of this kid below):

"You guys are like the boy who called "wolf." You drop the racism card at every opportune moment. I sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that one day when you really need a communities support over a race issue, there will be nobody to answer your call. "

Really, man? What the hell does that last part even mean?

This is not a forum.