Blackface leaving me red in the face

Dear White People by Justin Simien is a great modern portrayal of racism and segregation. I found it to be very smart and witty, yet managed to hit some hard topics. First, I have to mention what was shown during the end credits because I was so unaware of it until I saw this movie. Parties of people in Blackface is actually a thing that happens. I couldn’t believe it. That is ignorance on my part. It is terrible that even in modern times that racism is so prevalent whether it is intentional or ignorant racism. These parties are so out of line that I cannot believe people participate in them. Some examples from the movie are “Dartmouth College Students hold racist Crips and Bloods Party”, dated August 2013. “University of Florida, 2012” showing white students painted black and with stereotypical clothing. “University of Southern Mississippi, 2011” showing a group of women dressed as older black ladies. “White college students wear Blackface at Compton Cookout themed party UC San Diego, 2010.” This is not just a one-off occurrence. Even though it is met with outrage and protest, it keeps happening. Someone explain this to me. I am horrified at the blatant disrespect.

I wish that I attended a University that had a radio show calling out white people like is does in Dear White People and that it would hopefully inform them a bit more on what they’re doing and how it is in fact racist. There was this concept brought up in the movie several times that racism was out of fashion and that it was a topic nobody cared about anymore. In the movie, it was the university President who suggested it. Now at first to me that idea sounded completely ridiculous. But then I thought, is that part of the problem? People don’t think racism is an issue anymore? Just because black people are no longer slaves or are allowed to attend the same universities as white people means racism isn’t prevalent? Segregation of housing is a clear example of racism at work.

The housing situation was a central theme in the movie. There was the traditionally black only housing which a lot of other white students came to for many reasons, one example being better food. Coates talks a lot about housing and segregation in The Case for Reparations. “Locked out of the greatest mass-based opportunity for wealth accumulation in American history, African Americans who desired and were able to afford home ownership found themselves consigned to central-city communities where their investments were affected by the “self-fulfilling prophecies” of the FHA appraisers: cut off from sources of new investment, their homes and communities deteriorated and lost value in comparison to those homes and communities that FHA appraisers deemed desirable.” This is Redlining. This system allowed white people to become richer and created all black neighbourhoods considered “the ghetto”. In Dear White People, the administration was looking to “randomize” the housing. Basically, what I took from this is white people can segregate when they want, and then change the situation because it benefits them. We operate on white people rules. Systematically if you are white you already have an advantage in terms of pay, jobs, social standing etc over someone who is black. And too often this is conveniently forgotten. Racism is alive and well. And if people fail to acknowledge the problem, we can’t work on improving it.