12 Search results for "minstrelsy"

by Cosima Smith  By now many of you will have heard the term “Digital Blackface” a term defined loosely as the movement or expansion of Blackface minstrelsy to the new-age digital platforms we frequent.  The “tradition” of minstrelsy dates back to the early 19th century and began as a form of entertainment at the expense of […]

I haven’t trusted Billie Eilish since I became aware of her nearly a year ago. The context in which I learned about her was a valid and necessary social media post which lamented how fucked up it is that Eilish has apparently gone out of her way to dress “modestly” so as to not be […]

I always think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) whenever someone pretends to be a Black woman or disingenuously evokes our aesthetics. While there are many who outright pretend to be Black women, there are also those convinced that they can somehow actually become Black women and others who simply benefit from appropriating our […]

This essay contains discussions of sexual assault and racist violence  A Black woman was wrongfully terminated this week. Lisa Benson Cooper is an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist in Kansas City, Missouri. After working at the same company for fourteen years, she was fired when two white women coworkers complained to HR about an article that […]

By Sherronda Brown “When I want something, it’s fucking easy for me.” – Miley Cyrus, the self-ordained savior of our nation The words “Dumpster Fyre” hover above the head of Miley Cyrus on the cover of Billboard Magazine. Even though they refer to the debacle at Fyre Festival in which rich white kids were finessed […]

By Jay Dodd    Among Azealia Banks’ unfortunately few poignant and meaningful clap-backs is the occasion she came for Clifford “TI” Harris’s life for defending Igloo.In her 140-character shade, she called TI a coon. A humorously archaic  “slur” is made relevant again as we see its residual mindset permeating many Black men in the music […]

By Jay Dodd A recent post from Mary Cheney (Fmr. Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter), she positioned the work of drag in comparison to that of blackface.Before we get any further, I think it is important to reiterate this comparison is sloppy and not needed. There are a variety of ways to critique drag (which we […]

The painting of new Vanderbilt football coach Derek Mason will be redone after a petition was started in protest of the image. The painting, commissioned by Fant Smith, did not go over well with the school’s NAACP chapter who felt the mural reminded them of historically racist imagery. 

Halloween has come and gone, and it’s brought its customary share of mis-educated whitepeople darkening their skin and once again unveiling how the racist memory of minstrelsy, of performing and mocking Blackness, continues to trickle within white communities. As usual, there have been several insightful blogs unpacking the racism, some attempting to school whitepeople, some […]

Django is a film that’s been pivoted as an answer, when it raises more questions than anything. Should it be viewed within its historical significance, and the extent to which it can portray the horrors of slavery while reinvigorating a moment in history that many find irrelevant and antiquated? Or rather, should it be divorced […]

t’s a shame that Waverly’s community and parents are adamant about defending their complicity in perpetuating racial stereotypes and condoning violence against women. One can only hope that this is Waverly High School’s most teachable moment… for those open to receiving it.

On any given Saturday it’s not unusual for a camera to pan a stadium full of fans and land on a group that has covered in body paint in their school’s colors. This body painting practice is ubiquitous and was probably never given a second thought until a few Arizona State University students showed up […]