I’m having another of those YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME moments. Earlier today, a friend shared a link  to a news story – a story about a group of six girls at Southern Mississippi University who decided to attend a 1980s-themed party as the Huxtable family from The Cosby Show. Problem, you ask? These young white girls went in blackface.

Pauses to glance at calendar.  Yep, it’s really 2011.

Just how, exactly, does a citizen of the 21st century, even an adolescent citizen, fail to realize that, as my teenage children would say, “Seriously – that’s so not cool!”

Lots of unflattering terms come to mind in considering what these girls have done. But I’ve decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and refer to their actions as “culturally insensitive” or “unconsciously incompetent.” Since the goal of diversity and inclusion, however, is for all of us to become “unconsciously competent,” I’d say the university and the sorority involved both have considerable work to do with this little group.

I am also carefully reminding myself here that it was not an entire university who did this. Nor was it an entire sorority. It was six woefully unenlightened members of a sorority, whose sorority has more than taken them to task.  But I digress.

The goal of my blog is to remind young people, and perhaps also a few parents who may have missed the memo, that blackface really hasn’t been “in” for a while now. Of course, it reflects very poorly on our society that it ever was. Perhaps you’ll join me in sharing this message.

Let’s review just a bit. Having begun with the white man’s portrayal of plantation slaves and free African Americans during the era of minstrel shows (1830-1890), the blackfaced minstrels played an historically significant role in perpetuating – on a global level - some pretty heinous images, attidues and stereotypes of African Americans. While virtually every group of immigrants fell prey to the insensitivity of America’s 19th century music halls, none felt the impact of these portrayals with quite the same intensity of ignorance, prejudice and hostility as did the African Americans.

"Come listen all you galls and boys, I'm going to sing a little song, Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow."

White America’s perceptions of African American entertainers were heavily influenced by these hyperbolized minstrels. For more than one hundred years,  these caricatures perpetuatead the myth that African Americans were racially and socially inferior. Ultimately, the American imagination began to assume that any person with dark skin, no matter what their background, should rightfully conform to one of a number of stereotypical caricatures such as “Jim Crow” and “Zip Coon;” or, “Mammy” and little “Pickaninnies.” Offended by these names? Well, I should think so.

So you see, while these girls may have acted in ignorance – or unconscious incompetence – their actions were no less offensive. Those around them, that world at large that they have seemingly tuned out, are insulted by their insensitivity and lack of awareness. It is to the credit of their sorority sisters who decided to make the girls painfully aware of their mistakes. I whole-heartedly applaud them and the  university for insisting that the girls embark upon a journey of      
                                                                                                                understanding so that they can truly know better in future.

I have to assume these aren’t bad kids, but rather thoughtless and unlightened, as adolescents often are. Am I excusing their behavior? Of course not. But I refuse to beat them up on this blog too harshly. After all, but for the grace of God, there go mine. I merely hope, on the off-chance that someone may actually be listening, that we can spread the word that blackface is officially out of favor.