Quote:
Originally Posted by Corndogger
I believe Justin wore blackface at least three times that we know of and I doubt all three times were for Halloween parties.
Where are you getting that blackface started with Hollywood? The use of blackface in the U.S. started right after the Civil War.
How the History of Blackface Is Rooted in Racism
https://www.history.com/news/blackface-history-racism-origins
Blackface also has a long history in Canada.
Canada’s Surprising History of Blackface
...
Minstrelsy took hold in Canada, just as it did in the United States, and just as in the United States, black people objected. As early as 1843, according to Cheryl Thompson, a scholar of communications at Ryerson University, black residents of Toronto petitioned the city government in vain to ban minstrel shows. Howard reports that “minstrelsy was very common throughout Canada into the 1970s,” long after minstrel shows had become socially taboo—not to say extinct—in the United States. (Bashir Mohamed rounds up a few examples of 20th-century shows in Canada.)
...
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/canadas-surprising-history-of-blackface/598468/ |
Yes, there were minstrel shows in Canada 50+ years ago that most have forgotten about. Canada has a dramatically different history with blacks compared to the USA, where minstrel shows as your article points out were used post-civil war to propagate stereo types and later Hollywood where those stereotypes were broadcast all over the country.
Let's do a thought experiment and consider a Saudi Arabian in Saudi Arabia pretending to be a black character for Halloween. Is this act by definition racist solely based on what happened in the USA? No, it isn't. Just like almost no country considers the term "oriental" an offensive term just because the USA decided it was (and how it was used as a derogatory term in the USA).
Much of Canada's approach to racism is an imported construct from the USA - including minstrel shows & some kind of shared guilt for the aftermath of the civil war.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have apologized and that people's reactions to that as racism aren't valid (especially those communities who feel lingering effects of stereotypes) - but the fact is, the country of Canada (including Vancouver) has largely forgotten about esoteric Canadian minstrel shows from 50 years ago and Trudeau dressing up as a brown character has absolutely nothing to do with racism.
I'm glad we are having the conversation about it and some of the history of minstrel shows shouldn't be forgotten, but I again challenge you to call that individual from Saudi Arabia racist based on USA history.