Racism (blackface) in Missouri is ingrained. Any questions?...

[TeeYiYi]

Wearing Blackface, Sullivan High School Seniors Play Game of Powder-Puff Football
By Danny Wicentowski Wed., Nov. 19 2014 at 10:30 AM
56 Comments
Categories: Racism



Image from Facebook

Seniors at Sullivan High donned blackface for the school's annual powder-puff game.
When a dozen teen girls in blackface ran onto the Sullivan High School football field November 5 for a powder-puff game, Jennifer Schmidt recalls her gut reaction as, "Oh my gosh."

"And then I thought, 'Oh, they don't mean anything by it. Just let it go. No one thinks anything of it.' I didn't think anyone did," says Schmidt, the principal of Sullivan High School. "Evidently, someone did."

Evidently indeed. Photos taken during the game show twelve members of the senior class wearing dour expressions beneath full-blown blackface, and someone at the game shared those photos on Facebook. The reactions to the photos have been rippling within the small town of Sullivan (60 miles southwest of St. Louis) ever since.

The girls, says Schmidt, have been "very embarrassed and shocked at some of the responses they've gotten, because I think some people had some stuff on Facebook and got the wrong intention."

Much, much more at the link: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/11/high_school_seniors_play_full_game_of_powder_puff_football_in_blackface_--_by_accident.php

TYY

[badtoworse]

1. I'm speechless

[Spazito]

2. Geez...

"And then I thought, 'Oh, they don't mean anything by it. Just let it go. No one thinks anything of it.' I didn't think anyone did," says Schmidt, the principal of Sullivan High School. "Evidently, someone did."

This is the PRINCIPAL saying this.

[KingCharlemagne]

7. Nothing to add but this:

[Blue_Tires]

17. The sad part is we read this same goddamned story 3-4 times per year

and there's ALWAYS that quote from a parent, teacher, coach, principal, college chancellor, greek president, etc. etc...

[Spazito]

20. Yep, those that should be teaching them the history of racism, the racist connotation of...

"black face" are the same ones making excusing for those doing it that they didn't know.

It is both frustrating and appalling.

[spanone]

3. this is the newer generation of racists....how proud their parents must be.

[cyberswede]

4. Is it possible one of their school colors is black? And they had no idea of past uses of blackface?

I could easily see how teenagers today could be completely unaware of Al Jolson & other examples of racist uses of black face paint.

Maybe they meant something like this:


Rather than this:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. i think the fact that people are not taught about black face in high school

is possibly part of a bigger story about how we exclude the experience of african americans in our telling of american history

[cyberswede]

29. I agree...and I'm going to introduce my kids to the concept when I get home.

[AverageJoe90]

43. Good idea. People do need to understand the historical context behind this.....nt

[Blue_Tires]

19. But like I said -- We see this SAME story numerous times per year

even Hollywood celebrities have been caught doing it...Someone doesn't have to be born in Jolson's era to know that this is offensive...

[uppityperson]

25. It looks like their school colors are black and gold. Still not a good idea to do this

http://www.eagles.k12.mo.us/vnews/display.v/SEC/High%20School

[AverageJoe90]

42. That's definitely not out of the realm of possibility.

The sad truth is, is that history in general isn't covered nearly as much as it should be......and no, speaking overall, at least, I don't think it has nearly as much to do with the outright erasure of African-Americans(which does happen, unfortunately).....as it is just laziness on the part of school administrators. Which is something that DOES need to be badly rectified, as I'm sure many will agree.

[Xithras]

47. My kids had no idea what blackface was until I brought it up a few years ago.

My daughter was getting ready to head off to college, and there was another blackface story with college kids in the news. I jokingly told her not to do anything like that in college, and she had no idea what I was talking about. Turned out, none of my kids knew what blackface was, why it was offensive, or even that it was offensive.

It's not taught in schools, and it pops up in our culture so rarely that a lot of kids are simply unaware of it. As my daughter put it, "It's a racist thing for old people". So, yeah, when we're talking about high school kids, I'm not averse to giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The funny thing is, in another 50 years it probably won't be considered racist at all, because most of those who lived in the era when that type of racism occurred will simply be dead.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. I was raised by a Baby Boomer mom

Anyone else here raised by one? You know how we'd be rotten/make faces and they would say 'Be careful - your face will freeze that way' or 'I hope your face freezes like that'?

I hope they couldn't get the face paint off! That's just - the visual.

[Oktober]

6. The younger generation doesn't see race the way the older folks do...

The intent could legitimately be lacking...

[TeeYiYi]

9. Where were the adults...

...to gently remind them that blackface might not be a good idea?

Racism is so deeply entrenched in Missouri that they either don't recognize it when they see it or (more likely) don't care.

I think they recognized (kids included) what was happening but didn't care. They probably thought it was funny.

Whether or not the kids had ever heard of Al Jolson, you can bet that when they looked in the mirror, the thought of looking African American crossed their minds.

They don't get a pass.

TYY

[Oktober]

10. Why push all the racism and division onto the new generation....?

[TeeYiYi]

11. What about the adults...

...who attended the game and the ones who saw them getting ready for the game?

Even if the kids are innocent, which I doubt, the adults surely aren't.

TYY

[tblue37]

18. LIKE that idiot PRINCIPAL! nt

[Spazito]

12. Teaching the history of racism, including the racist connotations of...

"black face" is seen by you as a "push all the racism and division onto the new generation"?

Wow.

[nomorenomore08]

31. Ignorance of historical and cultural context is never a good thing.

And why call it "division" when it's fairly one-sided?

[bettyellen]

36. AKA: It's racist to discuss racist behavior! Except it is not.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. i wonder if younger blacks feel that way, or are we only concerned about the intents and feeling of

young white people?

[nomorenomore08]

32. +1

[Blue_Tires]

22. Nah...The "Didn't know it was offensive" excuse is worn thin...

and has been morphed into a euphemism for "Didn't know we'd actually get into trouble"

[Kelvin Mace]

26. An excuse that is acceptable if a six year old did it,

not sixteen year olds.

[nomorenomore08]

33. Exactly. Much like, say, a "Native American" Halloween costume. n/t

[Bonx]

8. OMG !1!1!...

...the real explanation is boring:
"According to Schmidt, in previous years the girls have wore combinations of the schools' colors -- black and gold. But when the senior girls arrived prior to the November 5 game, they discovered everyone had brought the same color face paint -- black.

"So that's what they wore," says Schmidt. "There was nothing racial about it. They didn't have any other intention other than to just try to intimidate the underclassmen.""

[dilby]

16. This sucks, I wanted to be outraged about something today.

Maybe people could get outraged about the Washington and Kansas City Fans who show up to games with Native American headdresses on and face paint. Every time I see a white or black person done up like a Native American it pisses me off.

[nomorenomore08]

39. "Every time I see a white or black person done up like a Native American it pisses me off."

Same here - to a certain extent - and I'm white. "Redface" is probably just as tasteless and ill-advised as blackface, or should be considered as such anyway.

[nomorenomore08]

38. Still, you have to admit it looks pretty bad. White people in blackface does not have a pleasant

connotation to say the least.

[olddots]

15. it's embarrassing

Nt.

[TeeYiYi]

21. Did you see the Halloween costumes?...

These kids from Missouri aren't innocent. They know exactly what they're doing.

This lack of knowledge, says Kolb, isn't just restricted to girls' powder-puff football games. During the same class, a student showed Kolb a Twitter photo from a Washington man who dressed as Darren Wilson for Halloween -- along with a friend who donned blackface for a Michael Brown costume.



Kolb says these two examples of blackface -- from the same geographic area -- speaks to the widespread ignorance of black history within overwhelmingly white towns like Sullivan and Washington.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/11/high_school_seniors_play_full_game_of_powder_puff_football_in_blackface_--_by_accident.php?page=2

TYY

[procon]

23. Well of course the students and teachers don't see anything wrong with blackface

because the whole town is almost 98% white, and the black students at that high school is in the 1% range. Charitably, these girls have almost no contact with people who are different from them. They are as ignorant and uninformed as their community and their small-town, conservative and parochial teachers who allowed them to proceed with a public display of blackface that opened them up to national ridicule.

That school neglected to provide students with a saturated exposure to biodiversity programs to compensate for the shortcomings of their segregated community. They did not educate those kids or explain the horrible historical context of wearing blackface makeup. Yes, those girls should be embarrassed and shocked upon discovering their ignorance brought them public scorn and censure, but hopefully it's a lesson learned.

Beyond the public shaming, they and their parents should be angry at the school and the principal's feeble solution to just "end the face-paint thing" without using the sorry episode as a teaching moment to introduce these sadly undereducated provincial kids to the world -- and the people -- beyond their city limits.

[TeeYiYi]

24. Good post. ..nt

TYY

[nomorenomore08]

40. +2

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

27. If they didn't mean anything by it

then why'd they do it? Did they think if they painted their faces ala Sioux warriors no one would ask what's up? It really disturbing on two levels; a) that they aren't aware enough to realize how offensive this is or b) they are and don't care..........



edited for spelling

[hunter]

28. They might have used all sorts of patterns, even if they only had black facepaint.

A bar of black across the eyes, skeleton faces, Batman faces, etc., all of which would be "intimidating," but not blackface.

They knew what they were doing and the so-called adult supervisors knew what they were doing.

They're all just upset they got called on it.

[TeeYiYi]

35. Exactly! The principal even admitted...

...that using face paint was originally intended to be a parody of the eye black that football players wear under their eyes.

…it's been common practice for the senior girls' team to wear face paint during the powder-puff football tournament, essentially as a parody of the eye black football players normally wear to decrease glare from the sun and lights.

They had options...





Not buying the innocent ruse.

TYY

[BklnDem75]

30. Future grand jurors...

To decide if more of our children had it coming. Lovely.

[MrScorpio]

34. There really is no good reason for wearing blackface

None, whatsoever.

[Go Vols]

37. :/

[TeeYiYi]

41. kick

TYY

[gordianot]

44. I live in Sullivan and have known about this for sometime.

I figured this at some point would hit national news. One story is the girls put on black face paint and messed it up so they covered their face in black football paint. The Principal Dr. Jennifer Schmidt claims she did not know of the face paint until they came on the field that too is in some dispute. In true mealy mouthed Administration fashion she is now blaming the students and as some students claim she is throwing them under the bus in a school wide assembly this afternoon. Ok maybe some students did not know how offensive black face is to African Americans. Sullivan Missouri has a terrible history of racial intimidation and openly boasts no less than three separate chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. The Principal clearly understood the implications and had an opportunity to stop this deplorable display before the girls went onto the field. Dr. Schmidt has for two weeks hung up on district patrons who have called to complain. (She claims some are blowing this out of proportion) No attempt to tell the student body other than the girls involved was attempted until today in a school wide assembly how offensive black face to racial sensitivity. Lack of sensitivity or not this should be considered a hate crime. I am waiting at least for a public apology or school sanctions from Sullivan MO

I am disgusted, apparently other residents in the District are equally disgusted Sullivan MO deserves the scrutiny they are being given.

[Spazito]

45. Thanks for the additional information...

I hope shining a national headlight on this shameful behavior, especially the Principal, will change some thinking although, given you have pointed out Sullivan openly boasts no less than three separate chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, it seems like a forlorn hope.

[gordianot]

48. So far all it has done is shut down all contact with media.

They are counting on it going away.

[Spazito]

49. Sadly, the odds are they are right...

the media has the attention span of a gnat when it comes to covering racist incidents like this.

[TeeYiYi]

46. Wow...

...Interesting. Thank you, for the local perspective. I'm glad this story is blowing up in their racist blackfaces.

Three separate chapters of the Ku Klux Klan... SMH -->> I'm so shocked... Not.

TYY