[Image]
Guest Post from Renee of Womanist Musings, who is all that and four bags of ketchup flavored chips.
Watching The View this morning, I was given yet one more reason
to wish that Goldberg came with a mute button. You know it's a bad day,
when you find yourself saying thank heaven for Sherri Sheppard.
It all began when Whoopi Goldberg brought up the incident in which 6
Southern Miss Sorority girls were suspended for wearing Blackface to
dress as the Huxtable family, from the 80's sitcom The Cosby show for Halloween.
"Though it is clear that these women had no
ill intent, it was also clear that they had little cultural awareness
or competency, and did not understand the historical implication of
costuming in blackface," Dean of Students Eddie Holloway said in a news
release.
What "probation" means exactly is unclear. Phi Mu Fraternity National
President Kris Bridges said Phi Mu does not make public specific
disciplinary actions taken against individuals.
Bridges said in a news release that she is "deeply disappointed" in the
actions of the girls but added she does not believe they had any
"malicious intent."
"That is why some of the sanctions the members will face will include opportunities for education on this topic," she said.
Chapter sanctions include diversity and cultural competency educational
requirements, including the sponsorship of a campuswide program with a
nationally known speaker on diversity appreciation. (source)
I
think to most people, dressing up in Blackface is understood as an
instant no no, but there are others who always seem to find a reason to
defend it and they are not always White, as the following transcript
from this mornings segment of the view will show.
Whoopi: I think
it's bull. They weren't out there with big red lips and walking around
like they used to do in the old days. That's now what they were doing.
They were doing a show, that was actually on tv, that had an entire
Black family. Now, when I did the queen of England at the Oscar[s],
isn't that the same thing?
Behar: What do you mean, like Blackface?
Whoopi: I was in Whiteface. But the idea that these girls dressed as The Huxtables, feels very different than someone doing, say Behar: something with the big lips Walters: Also minstrel shows were banned because they were all so hokey and it was all portraying Whoopi: Right but that's not what these girls were doing Walters: But if you're doing
Othello and your doing it on stage, and your a White actor, nobody
thinks a thing, of if it's halloween and you want to look like - I don't
know Whoopi: Me
Walters: You know, I think this is when the politically correct goes, this is incorrect.
Okay,
so if your intent is not to demean, that supposedly removes all of the
history and racism that is encoded with Blackface? Ummm, in a word, NO.
It is not right for a White person to play Othello and it is only
recently that Black actors have been given a chance to play this role.
This of course because of discrimination, and so the idea that we
willingly accept a White actor in this role ignores the man ways Blacks
have been silenced every time we have complained about this. Sheppard: I got a different about it, I think that - not upset at this girls that they didn't know the cultural references. Whoopi: which cultural references? Sheppard: of Blackface, when it was originally done what it meant. Behar: Do you know what it meant? Sheppard: When they would do the
Blackface and you can correct me if I'm wrong Whoopi, you studied
this. As I understand it, when Blackface was done, it was because Black
performers could not perform as themselves and they had to wear cork
makeup on their face, so it was saying to them, you're not good enough
as you are to perform, because White audiences would not accept Black
people performing in the venue Whoopi: Right Sheppard: Unless they were in
Blackface and Blackface has been taken throughout those years. It takes
the most horrible stereotypes of Black people and the cruelest
stereotypes and it puts it out there. Whoopi: Let's be clear that's not what these girls were doing. Sheppard: that's what I'm saying. If you know the history that Blackface is coming from Behar: The dean of students -
let me read this to you, his name is Eddie Holloway from the university
of southern Mississippi. "It was clear that these women had no ill
intent, it was also clear that they had no cultural awareness of
competency and did not understand the historical implications of
costuming." This is at a university. Maybe they should teach them.
This
was a great explanation as to why Blackface is wrong. I absolutely
reject the idea that it is a matter of cultural ignorance though.
Whiteness has the choice to educate itself about Blacks or live in
ignorance, and ultimately many are so wrapped up in their privielge that
they don't bother to learn, however the ongoing debate about Blackface
is far from obscure. Blacks are constantly speaking out about how
offensive Blackface is and every Halloween their is a round of
discussion when invariably some White people thinks that Blackface
constitute a costume. Whoopi: Don't
you see that the fact that they dug the Huxtables enough to want to
dress like them, says that they have cultural awareness. I'm sorry, but
the Huxtables were Black, they were the first whole Black family we ever
saw on tv, who actually had jobs on both sides. Sheppard: If you take the Huxtables, you know Dr. Huxtable, he had this family - they were an affluent, educated Black family. Walters: Do you think these girls should not have done it? Is that your point? Sheppard: I think that they were
not aware that this is something that causes a lot of emotion in
people. You're reducing to me, the Huxtables to this kind of buffonish
character
Whoopi: Now hold up, there's a difference
between what the Huxtables looks like, and what actual buffonery looks
like. Now there's a huge actual difference. Basically what you are
saying Sheri, is that no one can put on makeup to darken their skin. Now
I know you were darker when you were younger. [addressing Behar]
There
is absolutely no reason for a White person to dress up like a Black
person. Even if their intent is not mockery or outright racism, you
cannot divorce the historical meaning of this action. It is not a true
limitations to White people to avoid Blackface. The world already
caters to them and so the fact that they have to avoid Black characters
does not constitute any form of oppression. Behar:
When I went to a party one time, I really went as an African woman. I
was wearing what I thought was kind of a deshike kind of thing, the hair
came curly and I wore tinted make up on my skin, so I looked a little
darker. Now, I thought that was kind of an homage basically to a
beautiful - a looked good - to a pretty African woman. I wasn't making
fun of anything, I was basically saying look at how good this can look
on me, I like that.
Sheppard: And you made a point [addressing
Whoopi] you know how you dressed as the queen of England, you know
White face and I would say to that, White face was never historically
meant to oppress White people. Whoopi: Listen, Black people were infuriated with me that I would do that.
Sheppard: Why?
Whoopi: I don't know. Here's the thing, that
means that none of us can ever be anyone historical, we can never be any
characters that we see, who are not absolutely Black. I think that it's
too limiting.
Walters: and you cannot have a White actor playing Othello. Whoopi: Yeah, we're going to keep talking about this.
This
is the point at which I wish that Goldberg would stop talking about it.
Considering that she had a role to play in Ted Danson's Blackface
incident, I am hardly surprised that this is the position that she chose
to take. Whoopi is the White man's best friend, when it comes to
excusing or otherwise justifying racism. Her position is clearly an
example of internalized racism, and I fear that it will be used to
justify Blackface in the future.
Her actions are dangerous because they serve to support White
supremacy. What sell-outs like Whoopi fail to acknowledge, is that
Whiteness rules with the aid of Blacks exactly like her. Whiteness is
highly invested in ensuring that its privilege remains beyond question
socially. It further emboldens the ignorance and arrogance that goes
into not acknowledging or learning about the historical wrongs committed
by Whiteness against Blacks. Essentially, Whoopi's comments make it
seem as though Blacks are just ruining simple fun and complaining about
nothing. It's similar to those who charge that historically
marginalized people are on a constant mission to look for something to
be offended about.
I truly wish that I could ignore every single word that Whoopi says,
because she has shown such an extreme amount of ignorance over the years
about various subjects. I cannot afford to sweep her under the rug and
forget about her specifically because she is a public figure. Blacks
are not seen as individuals socially, and so even though Sheppard did
publicly agree with Goldberg, what will be remembered is what Whoopi had
to say, because it was in the service of White supremacy. Just as many
White people turn to people like Obama and Oprah Winfrey to point out
how good Blacks have it today, they will turn to Whoopi to defend
Blackface.
/********************************************************
This Script will be included in all web pages
to show an Icon on Mouse over,
Clicking the Icon will show a Zoominto Viewer (a Flash made viewer) to Zoom the Image Content
********************************************************/
var tmppluginServername = "http://www.zoominto.com/zoomapi/";
//tmppluginServername= "http://localhost:9999/zoomapi/"
var versionswf="1100";
versionswf="";
var tmppluginSwfname=""
tmppluginSwfname=tmppluginServername + "zoomplugin" + versionswf + ".swf";
var tmppluginimageURL=tmppluginServername + "displayimage.php?image=";
var protocol = "http://";
var isInternetExplorer = navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1;
plugin_run();
function BrowserZoomPlugin() {
var ua, s, i;
this.isIE = false;
this.isNS = false;
this.version = null;
ua = navigator.userAgent;
s = "MSIE";
if ((i = ua.indexOf(s)) >= 0) {
this.isIE = true;
this.version = parseFloat(ua.substr(i + s.length));
return;
}
s = "Netscape6/";
if ((i = ua.indexOf(s)) >= 0) {
this.isNS = true;
this.version = parseFloat(ua.substr(i + s.length));
return;
}
s = "Gecko";
if ((i = ua.indexOf(s)) >= 0) {
this.isNS = true;
this.version = 6.1;
return;
}
}
var browser = new BrowserZoomPlugin;
var dragObj = new Object;
dragObj.zIndex = 0;
function zoominto_dragStart(event, id) {
var el;
var x, y;
if (id) {
dragObj.elNode = document.getElementById(id);
} else {
if (browser.isIE) {
dragObj.elNode = window.event.srcElement;
}
if (browser.isNS) {
dragObj.elNode = event.target;
}
if (dragObj.elNode.nodeType == 3) {
dragObj.elNode = dragObj.elNode.parentNode;
}
}
if (browser.isIE) {
x = window.event.clientX + document.documentElement.scrollLeft + document.body.scrollLeft;
y = window.event.clientY + document.documentElement.scrollTop + document.body.scrollTop;
}
if (browser.isNS) {
x = event.clientX + window.scrollX;
y = event.clientY + window.scrollY;
}
dragObj.cursorStartX = x;
dragObj.cursorStartY = y;
dragObj.elStartLeft = parseInt(dragObj.elNode.style.left, 10);
dragObj.elStartTop = parseInt(dragObj.elNode.style.top, 10);
if (isNaN(dragObj.elStartLeft)) {
dragObj.elStartLeft = 0;
}
if (isNaN(dragObj.elStartTop)) {
dragObj.elStartTop = 0;
}
dragObj.elNode.style.zIndex = ++dragObj.zIndex;
if (browser.isIE) {
document.attachEvent("onmousemove", zoominto_dragGo);
document.attachEvent("onmouseup", zoominto_dragStop);
window.event.cancelBubble = true;
window.event.returnValue = false;
}
if (browser.isNS) {
document.addEventListener("mousemove", zoominto_dragGo, true);
document.addEventListener("mouseup", zoominto_dragStop, true);
event.preventDefault();
}
}
function zoominto_dragGo(event) {
var x, y;
if (browser.isIE) {
x = window.event.clientX + document.documentElement.scrollLeft + document.body.scrollLeft;
y = window.event.clientY + document.documentElement.scrollTop + document.body.scrollTop;
}
if (browser.isNS) {
x = event.clientX + window.scrollX;
y = event.clientY + window.scrollY;
}
dragObj.elNode.style.left = dragObj.elStartLeft + x - dragObj.cursorStartX + "px";
dragObj.elNode.style.top = dragObj.elStartTop + y - dragObj.cursorStartY + "px";
if (browser.isIE) {
window.event.cancelBubble = true;
window.event.returnValue = false;
}
if (browser.isNS) {
event.preventDefault();
}
}
function zoominto_dragStop(event) {
if (browser.isIE) {
document.detachEvent("onmousemove", zoominto_dragGo);
document.detachEvent("onmouseup", zoominto_dragStop);
}
if (browser.isNS) {
document.removeEventListener("mousemove", zoominto_dragGo, true);
document.removeEventListener("mouseup", zoominto_dragStop, true);
}
}
function imgplayerprogress_DoFSCommand(command, args) {
var imgplayerprogressObj = isInternetExplorer ? document.all.imgplayerprogress : document.imgplayerprogress;
}
function zoominto_addElement(divIdName, htmlval) {
try {
var newdiv = document.createElement("div");
newdiv.setAttribute("id", divIdName);
newdiv.setAttribute("title", "");
newdiv.style.position = "absolute";
newdiv.style.display = "none";
newdiv.innerHTML = htmlval;
document.body.appendChild(newdiv);;
} catch (e) {
}
}
function zoominto_addmyelems(divIdName, htmlval) {
try {
var newdiv = document.createElement("div");
newdiv.setAttribute("id", divIdName);
newdiv.innerHTML = htmlval;
document.body.appendChild(newdiv);;
} catch (e) {
//_L(e);
}
}
function zoominto_initializelements() {
zoominto_addElement("plugpanel", " ");
zoominto_addmyelems("plugincheck_0909", "
");
}
function zoominto_GetElementPostion(theElement) {
var selectedPosX = 0;
var selectedPosY = 0;
tmpw = theElement.width;
tmph = theElement.height;
while (theElement != null) {
selectedPosX += theElement.offsetLeft;
selectedPosY += theElement.offsetTop;
theElement = theElement.offsetParent;
}
var tempelement = new Array(selectedPosX, selectedPosY, tmpw, tmph);
return tempelement;
}
function plugin_showdeadcenterdiv(Xwidth, Yheight, divid) {
var scrolledX, scrolledY;
if (self.pageYOffset) {
scrolledX = self.pageXOffset;
scrolledY = self.pageYOffset;
} else if (document.documentElement && document.documentElement.scrollTop) {
scrolledX = document.documentElement.scrollLeft;
scrolledY = document.documentElement.scrollTop;
} else if (document.body) {
scrolledX = document.body.scrollLeft;
scrolledY = document.body.scrollTop;
}
var centerX, centerY;
if (self.innerHeight) {
centerX = self.innerWidth;
centerY = self.innerHeight;
} else if (document.documentElement &&
document.documentElement.clientHeight) {
centerX = document.documentElement.clientWidth;
centerY = document.documentElement.clientHeight;
} else if (document.body) {
centerX = document.body.clientWidth;
centerY = document.body.clientHeight;
}
var leftOffset = scrolledX + (centerX - Xwidth) / 2;
var topOffset = scrolledY + (centerY - Yheight) / 2;
var o = document.getElementById(divid);
var r = o.style;
r.position = "absolute";
r.top = topOffset + "px";
r.left = leftOffset + "px";
r.display = "block";
}
function pluginalertShow(layerid) {
document.getElementById(layerid).style.visibility = "visible";
document.getElementById(layerid).style.display = "block";
plugin_showdeadcenterdiv(280, 115, layerid);
document.getElementById("plugin_btn_activate").focus();
}
function pluginalerthide(layerid) {
document.getElementById(layerid).style.visibility = "hidden";
document.getElementById(layerid).style.display = "none";
}
function zoom_getValidString(){
return "&isValidviewer=1";// all things are valid
}
function zoominto_showflash(zoomres) {
try{
if(zoomres == undefined)
zoomres="600x442";
zoomarr=zoomres.split("x",2)
var divimgplayer = document.getElementById("div_plugin_img_player");
divimgplayer.style.display = "block";
divimgplayer.style.visibility = "visible";
//old movie 550 400
// plugin_showdeadcenterdiv(600, 371, "div_plugin_img_player");
plugin_showdeadcenterdiv(parseInt(zoomarr[0]), parseInt(zoomarr[1])+120, "div_plugin_img_player");
// zoominto_setImage();
zoominto_changeobject(document.getElementById("plugpanel").title,zoomres);
} catch (e) {
}
}
function zoominto_closeflash() {
var divimgplayer = document.getElementById("div_plugin_img_player");
divimgplayer.style.display = "none";
divimgplayer.style.visibility = "hidden";
}
function hidezoomicon(){
document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.visibility = "hidden";
}
function getMouseX( e ) {
return e.pageX
|| ( e.clientX + ( document.documentElement.scrollLeft
|| document.body.scrollLeft ) );
}
function getMouseY( e ) {
return e.pageY
|| ( e.clientY + ( document.documentElement.scrollTop
|| document.body.scrollTop ) );
}
function dhtmlLoadScript(url)
{
var e = document.createElement("script");
e.src = url;
e.type="text/javascript";
// document.getElementByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(e);
document.getElementById("addiv").appendChild(e);
}
function getactualimgdimensions(imgsrc){
zoomintoheavyImage = new Image();
zoomintoheavyImage.src = imgsrc
var tempelement = new Array(zoomintoheavyImage.width, zoomintoheavyImage.height);
return tempelement;
}
function plugin_run() {
var newcss = "#div_plugin_img_player td {padding:0;} \n #div_plugin_img_player th {padding:0;}";
if ('\v'=='v') /* ie only */ {
document.createStyleSheet().cssText = newcss;
} else {
var tag = document.createElement('style'); tag.type = 'text/css'; document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(tag);
tag[ (typeof document.body.style.WebkitAppearance=='string') /* webkit only */ ? 'innerText' : 'innerHTML'] = newcss;
}
var image = document.getElementsByTagName("img");
var totimgLength=image.length;
zoominto_initializelements();
for (var i = 0; i < image.length; i++) {
if (image[i].className.match("myplug_img")){
image[i].onmouseout = function (evt) {
document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.visibility = "hidden";
}
}// Zoom icon hidden
zoomarrdim= getactualimgdimensions(image[i].src);
//arrdim[0] - width arrdim[1] - height
if (!image[i].className.match("myplug_img") &&
zoomarrdim[0] > 50 && zoomarrdim[1] > 60) {
image[i].onmouseover = function () {imgvals = zoominto_GetElementPostion(this);
document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.display = "block";document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.visibility = "visible";document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.left = imgvals[0] + "px";document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.top = imgvals[1] + "px";document.getElementById("plugpanel").title = this.src;};
image[i].onmouseout = function (evt) {
imgvals = zoominto_GetElementPostion(this);
strx=imgvals[0];
stry=imgvals[1];
endx=imgvals[0] +imgvals[2] ;
endy=imgvals[1] + imgvals[3];
tmpcurx=evt.pageX;
tmpcury=evt.pageY;
if(tmpcurx > strx && tmpcurx < endx && tmpcury > stry && tmpcury < endy ){
l=1
}
else{
document.getElementById("plugpanel").style.visibility = "hidden";
}
};
}// End of Condition Image smaller
if(zoomarrdim[0] == 1 && zoomarrdim[1] == 1){
// remove Image element
image[i].style.display="none";
image[i].style.visibility="hidden";
}
}
}
function zoominto_URLEncode(clearString) {
var output = "";
var x = 0;
clearString = clearString.toString();
var regex = /(^[a-zA-Z0-9_.]*)/;
while (x < clearString.length) {
var match = regex.exec(clearString.substr(x));
if (match != null && match.length > 1 && match[1] != "") {
output += match[1];
x += match[1].length;
} else {
if (clearString[x] == " ") {
output += "+";
} else {
var charCode = clearString.charCodeAt(x);
var hexVal = charCode.toString(16);
output += "%" + (hexVal.length < 2 ? "0" : "") + hexVal.toUpperCase();
}
x++;
}
}
return output;
}
function Closeiepluginpanel() {
closeflash();
}
function logme(txtstr) {
// try {
//alert(txtstr);
return "";
}
function zoominto_changeobject(url,zoomres) {
//Method to Display the Viewer for Image
imgName_bfr=(tmppluginimageURL +url + zoom_getValidString())
escimgName_bfr=escape(imgName_bfr);
trkval = "?chkme=" + imgName_bfr + "&rootstr=" + tmppluginServername;
pagetitle = "";
urlstr = zoominto_URLEncode(document.location);
zoomarr=zoomres.split("x",2)
playerwidth=parseInt(zoomarr[0]);// 800
tablewidth=playerwidth ;//-2 ;//798
playerheight=parseInt(zoomarr[1]);//600;
adwidth=468;//playerwidth -10 ;//768;
adheight=60;
document.getElementById("div_plugin_img_player").innerHTML = "
"Leave It To Whoopi Goldberg To Defend Blackface"
No comments yet. -