Brickbat: He Had a Dream

Colorado's Meridian Ranch Elementary School held a "wax museum" day recently and asked students to come dressed as some historic figure. Second-grader Sean King decided to come as Martin Luther King Jr., so he put on a suit and a fake mustache. And since, King is white, he decided to use makeup to darken his face. One faculty member complained the "blackface" was offensive. So the principal ordered him to remove the makeup or leave school. King's parents opted to take him home.

Brickbat Archive

Comments

[Mr Whipple]

"Oh, I thought he said, Minstrel Show."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Second-grader Sean King decided to come as Martin Luther King Jr. ...

No relation. "...where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their greasepaint kit."

[Drake]

That's pretty funny. Did they get a Hitler or Stalin?

[Robert]

The depictions were assigned, not chosen by students.

[heller]

Anybody besides me catch the historic SpaceX launch?

Suck it, sleepers.

[JW]

Nope, missed it. That thing had more false starts than any date of mine.

[SugarFree]

At least SpaceX didn't have so many premature launches.

[SugarFree]

To be clear: I'm talking about your penis not working right.

[JW]

PENISPENISPENISPENISPENIS

My penis is so awesome that it produces insulin.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Heard all about it on my Marconi Wireless device. Another space shot that didn't blow up - yaaaaawn.

[invisible furry hand]

so he put on a suit and a fake mustache

Heteronormalist!

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

So everyone looks like an old Italian woman wearing a man's suit....

HIYO!!!

[Bee Tagger]

One faculty member complained the "blackface" was offensive.

If this was a Zucker Brothers production, there would have been a black kid, unaware to the faculty member, standing beside him.

[SugarFree]

A spokeswoman for the principal told KRDO that some students, as well as the faculty member who initially complained, felt the costume was offensive. It's the principal's job to make sure the school is a safe environment for students, she said.

-

I guess they didn't cover non sequiturs in her fancy education graduate degree program.

[Rich]

Perhaps they covered more basic logic, SF.

"If I have feelings about the costume being offensive, then others may have the same feelings.
When I am offended, I may lose control and kick the offender's ass.
Ass-kicking is not a safe environment.
I feel the costume is offensive.
Therefore, this is not a safe environment."

[sticks]

Then send the offended child or teacher home if he is unable to control himself.

[Rich]

"It is not my fault if I am offended."

[The Fatman]

But it is your fault that you cant control yourself because you are a fucking pansy. Hows that?

[SugarFree]

Reads like no one found much to complain about until the faculty member did. So it's the kid that gets punished, and not the adult that can't control their feelings well enough to be trusted to not hurt a child?

It's that where the real danger to safety lies?

[SugarFree]

*Isn't* that

This is the kind of thing that happens when I smoke opium before work.

[Rich]

I have a dream that some smart-ass African-American youngster shows up in blackface makeup next time.

[Mo' $parky]

I think it would have been cool if a black kid put on whiteface and went a Thomas Jefferson. Oh well, I can dream.

[SugarFree]

Demographers estimate that by 2136, 48% of 2nd-graders will be descendants of both Thomas Jefferson and MLK.

[invisible furry hand]

how many will be descended from Warty?

[Rich]

Or from STEVE SMITH?

[SugarFree]

STEVE SMITH could never breed with human women, and never found love in the ranks of the WNBA. He is the last of his kind.

[Rich]

Whew!

[SugarFree]

None. Farseers skating the skeins of time tell us that the spawn of Warty will be... encouraged... to emigrate to Phobos in 2081. The same year SpaceMTV debuts with an image of a Terranaut planting a flag in the ruins of Old Earth.

[sticks]

I guess union's here don't like Niki Haley

[Rich]

Wow. Good thing the Governor wasn't wearing blackface in that photo.

[buntpunt]

Sometimes you jsut have to throw your hands up in the air and shout, Whos your daddy!

http://www.Privacy-Software.tk

[Auric Demonocles]

Can someone explain why blackface is supposed to be offensive? That's something I've never understood.

[SugarFree]

Because of Minstrel shows. Which were designed to be offensive. Imagine 70 years of Jar Jar Binks On Ice being popular entertainment.

[Auric Demonocles]

So why is the blackface offensive, and not just the portrayal of black people as stupid?

[SugarFree]

The medium is the message.

[Robert]

Reminds me of when I was Peter Minuet.

Especially upsetting is that he was assigned the role to play, not his choice. But it's hilarious that face makeup was mentioned as being against the school's dress code -- as if this wax museum day were not an exception to all the provisions of their dress code!