Dressing up ignorance this Halloween, the American way?
buzzz worthy. . .
By Mona Austin
People do a lot of crazy things in the name of amusement and freedom and just when you thought you'd seen it all, the 2013 Halloween season rolls around.
This year, the top patrons of dumb wit made the news. They are a celeb and a trio of friends who left many dumb with astonishment by donning racially offensive costumes. "Black Face" has reared its ugly head again in a most un-amusing manner.
'Safe Haven' actress Julianne Hough showed up to a party in Beverly Hills on Oct. 25 with a group of friends dressed as the cast of Netflix's 'Orange is the New Black.' Hough came as her favorite character CrazyEyes (Uzo Adubah), but before leaving the party she was "out of character." People were so put off by the dark brown facial make-up she wore that she wiped it off while still at the event. The ex-'Dancing With the Stars' pro dancer, 25, didn't have to go there. The hair ball twists alone were a dead give-away of who she was trying to portray. Viewers quickly expressed disapproval online.
Claiming to mean no harm, Hough responded to the controversy in a tweet the next day writing: "I am a huge fan of the show Orange is the New black, actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize."
This sounds like a sincere apology, but no one gets a pass. That Blackface is off limits both in and out of Halloween season should not be up for discussion in 2013, yet the work of educating the ignorant, dispeling myths and stereotypes or otherwise attempting to eliminate disconnected behavior that offends most African Americans remains unfinished business.
During Halloween time the most creative costumes are intended to cause you to do a double take or inspire awe. They are not supposed to make a mockery of life and death, which is exactly what another news-making get up did.
A neck-snapping photo of two White men dressed as slain teen Trayvon Martin and neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman surfaced on Instagram. They went all out, with the Martin character painting his skin charcoal colored, blood stained hoodie and all. Like most sane people I was agasp to the point of being speechless. The memories of this racially charged, highly controversial case as still fresh and way too taboo to touch. Racial wounds are still healing, but even a century from now it won't be appropriate to wear black face or satirically minimize what happened in Sanford, FLA. that caused the nation's first Black president to speak out on race for the first time in his two terms, to quell the quiet current of racial tension that is swelling in America.
There is no excuse for wearing these costumes.
No one wants to hear about freedom of expression or the inability to regulate morals as if it is the "American Way" to be callous and socially detached. Costumes that are inhumane, degrading and morbidly offensive that they could incite violence should be outlawed. But, wait. That description fits the grand old KKK. They have been wearing offensive costumes for over a century. Is tolerating some disguises of ill-repute the "American Way"?
This is not a matter of insensitivity or a matter of ignorance as some have said. What Hough and the fellas may have assumed in this so called "post-racial" America is that equality means fairplay when it comes to creative expression and they must be accountable for what amounts to extreme poor judgement and misuse of freedom.
As an African American, my black face is not something I can wash off and return to life as usual when the party is over. African Americans don't live a make-up optional lives, public disguises to hide our fantasies behind. We show our faces every day and say to our "Look at me. Accept me the way I am and treat me like you want to be treated."
These Halloween "characters" must understand that what you don't know has the potential to hurt you and others.
By Mona Austin
People do a lot of crazy things in the name of amusement and freedom and just when you thought you'd seen it all, the 2013 Halloween season rolls around.
This year, the top patrons of dumb wit made the news. They are a celeb and a trio of friends who left many dumb with astonishment by donning racially offensive costumes. "Black Face" has reared its ugly head again in a most un-amusing manner.
'Safe Haven' actress Julianne Hough showed up to a party in Beverly Hills on Oct. 25 with a group of friends dressed as the cast of Netflix's 'Orange is the New Black.' Hough came as her favorite character CrazyEyes (Uzo Adubah), but before leaving the party she was "out of character." People were so put off by the dark brown facial make-up she wore that she wiped it off while still at the event. The ex-'Dancing With the Stars' pro dancer, 25, didn't have to go there. The hair ball twists alone were a dead give-away of who she was trying to portray. Viewers quickly expressed disapproval online.
Claiming to mean no harm, Hough responded to the controversy in a tweet the next day writing: "I am a huge fan of the show Orange is the New black, actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize."
This sounds like a sincere apology, but no one gets a pass. That Blackface is off limits both in and out of Halloween season should not be up for discussion in 2013, yet the work of educating the ignorant, dispeling myths and stereotypes or otherwise attempting to eliminate disconnected behavior that offends most African Americans remains unfinished business.
During Halloween time the most creative costumes are intended to cause you to do a double take or inspire awe. They are not supposed to make a mockery of life and death, which is exactly what another news-making get up did.
A neck-snapping photo of two White men dressed as slain teen Trayvon Martin and neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman surfaced on Instagram. They went all out, with the Martin character painting his skin charcoal colored, blood stained hoodie and all. Like most sane people I was agasp to the point of being speechless. The memories of this racially charged, highly controversial case as still fresh and way too taboo to touch. Racial wounds are still healing, but even a century from now it won't be appropriate to wear black face or satirically minimize what happened in Sanford, FLA. that caused the nation's first Black president to speak out on race for the first time in his two terms, to quell the quiet current of racial tension that is swelling in America.
There is no excuse for wearing these costumes.
No one wants to hear about freedom of expression or the inability to regulate morals as if it is the "American Way" to be callous and socially detached. Costumes that are inhumane, degrading and morbidly offensive that they could incite violence should be outlawed. But, wait. That description fits the grand old KKK. They have been wearing offensive costumes for over a century. Is tolerating some disguises of ill-repute the "American Way"?
This is not a matter of insensitivity or a matter of ignorance as some have said. What Hough and the fellas may have assumed in this so called "post-racial" America is that equality means fairplay when it comes to creative expression and they must be accountable for what amounts to extreme poor judgement and misuse of freedom.
As an African American, my black face is not something I can wash off and return to life as usual when the party is over. African Americans don't live a make-up optional lives, public disguises to hide our fantasies behind. We show our faces every day and say to our "Look at me. Accept me the way I am and treat me like you want to be treated."
These Halloween "characters" must understand that what you don't know has the potential to hurt you and others.
