A Third of Americans Say Blackface Is Acceptable

[Marthe48]

42. I have mixed feelings

I didn't grow up when blackface was a vaudeville stunt. I grew up when men dressing like women was considered humorous. I never thought that it was that funny, but it was a popular schtick for everyone from Milton Berle to Monty Python.
I noticed that rather than embrace the actual people, whites co-opt cultural properties. Black musicians, by and large, introduced jazz, blues, and rap to American and world culture. Rather than hire the black artists from whom the music flowed, white musicians learned how to play jazz, blues and rap and they got most of the gigs. I think black face is a bad effort to co-opt black humor, or at least black presence on stage. Some humorless whites didn't want to work with black people, so they made their own. The image of white men painted black, or men wearing women's clothes, remains for some an image of old-timey entertainment. But neither were funny to thoughtful people then, and moving forward, both become unfunny anachronisms.
I am not ready to judge the politicians who might have been clueless enough to use blackface. First, I want to be sure this isn't a dirty trick set up to destroy Democratic leadership in Va. Next, I need to learn more about the men involved. Are they like Sen. Byrd? Have they experienced personal growth so that if they were insensitive enough then, are they the same now? Or are they cringing because in their formative years, they were jerks? I don't want to be insensitive or pragmatic. If Northrup, et al, are self-serving hypocrites paying lip service to advancing civil rights, then they need go. If they are the victims of a dirty trick, or if by their public service have atoned, maybe we can forgive their past bad behaviour and let them continue on their paths.