'Town hall meeting' on history of blackface convened

A week after photos of a student government candidate wearing black face paint triggered concerns about racial sensitivity, students and faculty gathered yesterday at the Carl A. Fields Center for a town-hall meeting on the historical and contemporary manifestations of blackface.

Makeba Clay, the center's director, said the election controversy over USG vice president and president-elect Josh Weinstein '09's freshman Halloween costume made the event timely. "We decided to do this program because every year across colleges and universities, there are inevitably incidents causing people to question: Are people being racially insensitive?" she said.

Noliwe Rooks, associate director of the Program in African-American Studies, presented three main issues for discussion: the 21st century response to 19th century racism, the face of racism today and the dilemma of responding to innocent intentions presented by those accused of racist acts.

Miriam Petty, a postdoctoral fellow in race and ethnicity studies, prepared a slideshow on "The Blackface Minstrel" to provide the historical background on blackface.

Petty emphasized that blackface did not disappear with the end of the minstrel-show era.

"Hollywood recuperated blackface in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s ... I know you want me to stop, in the 1950s, 1960s," Petty said, showing a clip in the 1939 Judy Garland film "Babes in Arms" depicting the typical minstrel-show walk-around.

Rooks presented a second slideshow on modern blackface controversies on college campuses, including Emory and Clemson universities.

Though she said it is difficult to draw the line between naivety and disrespect, "people need the face of racism to look like a Klan member with a hood and a noose."

College students who attend "gangsta" and Civil War-themed parties involving blackface tend to deny their offensiveness, Rooks said.

"Every time, people say 'I wasn't trying to be offensive,' " Rooks said. "They make excuses that the problem is how you're responding, not what I did."

During race-related controversies, people often justify insensitivity by citing comedian Dave Chapelle's satiric form of addressing race issues, Petty said. But, she added, "the language of satire is really risky."

Around 20 professors and students attended the event, and they expressed disappointment with the poor turnout. "I'm disappointed that there are only four undergrads here tonight," U-Councilor Anna Almore '08 said. "This is a conversation that we as a community are supposed to have. We're supposed to be the future leaders of the world ... but this issue is being overlooked. And this problem ... is bigger than Josh Weinstein."

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Rooks and Petty called for wider discussion of the issue. "We need to figure out how to build coalitions across race, across gender, across class," Petty said.

Rooks added that it's important to remember that racism extends beyond Princeton.

"Focusing on Josh is one thing," she said. "What it tells us about who we are, about what this campus is, is a lot more important. It may not be what we want it to be, but it's real."