by Danika Lyle
Editor-in-Chief
A notification appeared on El Gato’s Facebook on Sunday, stating that we had been tagged in a post that reads as follows: “The fact that somebody from Los Gatos High School thought it was OK to ask somebody to prom wearing blackface does not surprise me. However, the fact that social media and local news sources have not had the courage to speak out and condemn this inappropriate behavior is truly despicable. Before we continue to normalize racism, perhaps it’s important to think about who and what we are protecting with our silence.” The post was created by Miles Patrick Lucey, an alum of LGHS.
On Friday, May 12, an LGHS senior asked a girl to Prom in blackface makeup. The ask was a recreation of a Bitmoji-Snapchat message he had sent to the girl earlier. The Bitmoji is an African American avatar with blue hair, glasses, a tank top, a bow, and a bright Prom poster. He asked the girl at her house without a bow, tank top, or blue hair dye, but did choose to blacken his face. The student posted pictures of his ask on Instagram, and as I write this article, the post remains.
I shouldn’t have to write an article about the offensiveness of blackface. But here we are, so let’s get into it. Blackface got its start in America in the 1800s as a means to mock, dehumanize, and exploit slaves and exaggerate stereotypes. The continual use of blackface perpetuates the idea that the color of someone’s skin is an acceptable subject of ridicule. It does not matter what the original intent was. It does not matter that the blackface was meant to replicate a fictional avatar. You cannot separate blackface from its racist, colonial origins. The negative effects of blackface still impact and shape people’s lives today.
Thinking that blackface is acceptable in any capacity normalizes the act of taking someone’s ethnicity, using it for your own entertainment, and dropping it when you’ve had enough. That is white privilege: appropriating the color of someone’s skin for your personal jokes and being able to wash it off the next day when so many cannot.
As Lucey pointed out in his Facebook post, one of the most unnerving things about this prom ask is the lack of protest. It had received fifty seven likes. Fifty seven people viewed the post and overlooked its racism. Moreover, 11 people were brave enough to leave comments like “this is iconic,” “GOAT,” and “U the MVP.” Praising someone for blackface does not leave you innocent. By applauding the Instagram post, you are supporting the perpetuation of a racist practice. Even the remaining 46, those who saw the post and liked it, are not innocent. Like Lucey said, it is disgusting to watch students overlook racism in school in favor of saving face.
So who and what are we protecting by keeping our silence on these issues? We are protecting the idea that you can get away with racism if you’re trying to be “funny.” We are protecting the idea that it is more important to maintain relationships and save someone’s feelings than call them out for racism. We are protecting a group of people who are sometimes well-meaning, sometimes just ignorant, but always in need of an education on the impact of their actions. We are protecting the stunted progress of our struggle to heal the racial divide.
The El Gato staff will not protect this act with our silence.
Update: El Gato’s policy is to review and publish all comments that contain a commenter’s real first and last name, as well as valid email. This has been our comment policy since the creation of the website. Additionally, El Gato will only delete comments at the request of the commenter.
Categories: Uncategorized
I am a black woman. I live in MS and my black daughter has attended Daves, Fisher and is currently attending Los Gatos High School. I am furious but not surprised. My daughter has been a victim of racism in all three schools. She’s been called a Nigger numerous times. She’s been told she’s the same color as poop; she’s been told in a classroom full of students and a teacher to smile so she can be seen. I experience racism on a daily basis in LG. Being ignored and followed in shops. I’ve been stared at. The LG moms are the worst. Just two weeks ago I was on Main and N. Santa Cruz . I yelled at by an older white woman and called me a “Black Bitch.
So, no I’m not surprised this happened. The only reason we’ve heard about it is because it was on social media.
Thank you so much for drawing attention to this. Blackface is a disgusting practice, and when students don’t understand the implications of their actions, it is very important to hold them accountable and educate them too! This editorial did both very well. Go El Gato News!
I shouldn’t have to write a comment about the rediculousness of easily offended people. But here we are, so let’s get into it. Racism is only given its power by those who choose to be offended by it. I have lived my life beliving this, and I will continue to do so. The fact that someone made a joke involving blackface is not a reason to get angry. Even if you are black, you still don’t have a reason to give a shit. The intent was not to put black people down. It was to add humor to a prom ask. Sure it was stupid to put pictures of it online, but unless the caption read, “Yo I bet real niggers wish they could get a date to prom,” the intent was most likely not to be racist or offensive.
And straight up, fuck, “It does not matter what the original intent was… You cannot separate blackface from its racist, colonial origins.” You abso-fuckin-lutely can. To start, a perfect example of that being done, is the term “Cakewalk.” I’ll give you a few minutes to do your research, my uneducated, special little snowflakes. [Disclaimer: the term “special little snowflakes” is not a racial term. It is in fact, a term used to refer to autistic shitlet-retards who think they are special and unique and that have also been sheltered from the outside world.] Alright, now that you have hopefully done a little research, you will have found that the term “Cakewalk,” which people of ALL RACES currently use to refer to something that is “easy,” was originally an event in which slaves would be forced to compete in a dancing game to win, as you guessed it, a cake. It was a lot less joyous than it sounds, given that the slaves most often had no choice in the matter. There is a word that could easily be considered offensive today. Yet because special little snowflakes like yourselves weren’t around then, the word has not only lost its offensive meaning, (and thus, successfully been “separated from its racist, colonial origins”,) it has been transformed into a word that represents GOOD things. So fuck yes something can lose its racist meaning, and it is in fact your fault that blackface has not. If people stopped caring about things like this, then not only would it lose its offensive capabilities, but it could actually become something good. I mean, it is literally a fashion trend in Japan. (Ganguro. Look it up, snowflakes.)
So honestly, I’m proud that this “incident” (if you can even call it that) has gotten so little attention. It goes to show that in the end, at least some people are realizing, that this shit just doesn’t fucking matter. It doesn’t, and if you think otherwise, you are an idiot in my eyes. So unless there is someone going around actually attacking black people, (and only black people, because apparently they are the only ones you can be racist to these days,) stop being such whiny little bitches.
[Disclaimer: I am latino, so you can’t pull that, “You don’t have a say in the matter because you are a cis white male,” because I am not. I’m not black, sure, but that doesn’t mean I am immune to racism. Well, I AM immune to it, because I choose to be, when I choose to not care about it, (unlike you snowflakes,) but I can still be the target of it, just like black people.]
Holding your peers accountable for their insensitive actions is never easy, but this article shows that El Gato and its staff put integrity first. Excellent work, Danika!
Seeing as this news source refuses to accept anonymity and embraces censorship I will post my real name in the hopes that this communist staff recognizes my efforts. What follows is my opinion and should have no bearing on anyone who chooses to read it. What follows is exactly what I submitted yesterday, what got rejected.
First I would like to note that, quite humorously, I put more effort into this than I have for any school related essay I’ve ever had to do. Slight digression aside this article fails to address or fix any of the ‘problems’ associated with use of blackface. If anything it creates new problems that this school district exacerbates more than anything.
Let’s assume that the use of ‘ Blackface’ is racist as the article so claims, why does this school have any right to police or jurisdict those who choose to practice ‘racism’ outside of the campus? One could argue it is the school’s purpose to monitor and censor what students say or do as to avoid getting sued by the government, in which case they would be justified, for someone decided to involve the school. However addressing this topic in a public article and proceeding to lecture the student body on ‘tolerance’ is not a healthy, nor a responsible way to discipline and inform people. This article is passive aggressive towards every person involved.
I have taken the liberty to embolden the important parts made by the facebook alumni which reads as follows, “The fact that somebody from Los Gatos High School thought it was OK to ask somebody to prom wearing blackface does not surprise me. However, the fact that social media and local news sources have not had the courage to speak out and condemn this inappropriate behavior is truly despicable. Before we continue to normalize racism, perhaps it’s important to think about who and what we are protecting with our silence.”
Aside from involving the school to satisfy whatever need they felt for ‘appropriating justice’ being entirely self serving and ‘despicable’, I would like to add that had this Alumni never made this post this ‘issue’ could have been contained and not made public for all to see. His actions have worsened the treatment of the person who did this in the first place. While names are never given the commenters below me seem to have no sense of subtlety when addressing the one at fault. By addressing a ‘problem’ like this in the manner in which you handled it it serves to only worsen tensions between the people who use such jokes ironically and humorously, and the people who feel offended at such behavior.
Now when the alumni says it does not surprise him, clearly it means that this ‘issue’ is commonplace. Publicizing this one because of its severity may seem the ‘right thing to do,’ however in doing this the only tangible result will be that of increased consciousness among those who were raised in their father’s closets, and the aforementioned spike in tension. As for this ‘issue’ it is even debateable to call it that.
As said in the article, “The continual use of blackface perpetuates the idea that the color of someone’s skin is an acceptable subject of ridicule.” Yes it does and there is nothing wrong with that. Humor is completely subjective it is not the school’s responsibility nor task to educate us on ‘proper humor.’ While the school can censor humor to comply with the government standards, appropriating this standard and applying it to every student’s everyday life infringes on the boundaries of what many define as acceptable.
Adding onto this point the fact the Alumni has the audacity to expect local news sources and media to report on a person’s private lifestyle sickens me. As far as the founding principles of this country are concerned, people can say and do as they wish as long as it does not infringe upon the rights other people hold. Black face does not infringe upon the rights of any given american, each and everyone of us are entitled to interpret any modicum as they choose, if someone chooses to interpret it as offensive then they be damned. This senior clearly did not mean for it to be used as ‘hate speech,’ an exception to the aforementioned right. Seeing as the ‘incident’ does not comply with any of the given standards for correctional pursuit, the involvement of outside corporations only serves to empower their close minded view of society.
Racism is normal and a view shared by a minority of people. ‘Racist jokes’ are designed to be humorous, and they have remained so for decades because of the power given to them by people who seek to eliminate all racism. The Alumni hints that the ‘normalization’ of racism only hurts people. This limited and segregated viewpoint is why racism persists to this day. Racism has always been in contention since the dawn of time. At no point in human history has there ever been a society with every class at an equal level. This perfect reality is impossible, thus one must deal with prejudices and bias in society. In relation to this article the ‘normalization of racism’ IS what will alleviate any past scars of racism.
By accepting racist jokes and using them humorously they will fade away due to losing their ‘ comedic value.’ Like the transition from ‘I Love lucy’ to ‘Seinfeld,’ racism will fade away as time goes by. Constantly inflaming the innate angers between people by treating ‘racist behavior’ as purely negative will only result in the persistence of such behavior.
Here I have gone back to the original work published by the author and emboldened the important points of her statement which are as follows.
“It does not matter what the original intent was. It does not matter that the blackface was meant to replicate a fictional avatar. You cannot separate blackface from its racist, colonial origins. The negative effects of blackface still impact and shape people’s lives today.”
“Thinking that blackface is acceptable in any capacity normalizes the act of taking someone’s ethnicity, using it for your own entertainment, and dropping it when you’ve had enough. That is white privilege: appropriating the color of someone’s skin for your personal jokes and being able to wash it off the next day when so many cannot.”
Injecting personal bias into any written word that I knowingly share leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but if the writer of this article can so shamelessly do so i will express my extreme discontent with the conformist, liberal, and racist connotations associated with the words I had to begrudgingly copy and analyze. This article is something that one would see on a poster at a BLM protest, and I can describe it in three words that all begin with the letter S. Scripted, Stupid, and Slimy.
The original intent of the ‘offense’ matters more than any sense of self opinionated meaning. In a murder case one convicted of manslaughter does not receive the same punishment as one convicted of first degree murder. Lumping the intentional with the innocent is something that a communist dictator would do, something I have come to believe this school idolizes.
Cakewalk. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘cakewalk’ a party game, correct? Or how about ‘Ring around the Rosy’, an innocent children’s song, right? As my colleague, Al nonymous, had crudely put ‘ the meaning can change over time.’ Saying that society must change by deleting the word yet denying the word the ability to change is nothing but hypocrisy, a trait many of the SJW minded people at this school seem to ignore when preaching ‘equality’ and ‘justice’.
Mentioned before the ‘normalization’ of racism is what we Should do to offset any long lasting damages, however I digress yet again. For the last ‘minigraph’ of this Opinion, The focus will primarily be on that of the last emboldened point in the article, a point which I must reiterate to emphasize the hypocrisy of it.
white privilege: appropriating the color of someone’s skin for your personal jokes and being able to wash it off the next day when so many cannot.
I am not purely white. I am asian. I am a mixture of cultures, many of which have been discriminated against in the past. I am part Filipino, who are being abused by the Chinese in modern society and who were abused by the Japanese during the second world war. I am part Japanese, a culture that was shunned by the entirety of the N.A.T.O. countries until just a few decades later. I am part French,discriminated against for their supposed ‘cowardice,’ German, discriminated against for their rhetoric during the second world war, English, discriminated against for their food choice, Irish, discriminated against for their supposed ‘drunkenness,’ and Italian, a culture with a plethora of racial stereotypes that are ignored in favor of humor. Most notably of all I am a half breed, I belong to no nation, had I been born in any time before the 60’s I would be a disgrace to everyone of the aforementioned cultures. However, I have the balls to say I don’t care. History is just that, History. Had I been born in a time where racial tension actually affected and changes lives, I would still find this article acceptable. Saying that this actually affects people negatively is an insult to the people who died to get you the rights to say that. My parents and my grandparents lived horrible lives because of racism, because of advancements made by actual Social Justice warriors, I am here today being able to write this rather complex article on an opinion piece. I laugh at racist jokes because people like the authors and editors of this article feverently tell me that is unacceptable. I laugh at Filipino insults, Japanese insults, French English, Irish, German, and Italian insults. I also laugh at insults to African Americans, because in the end the meaning and tone are innocent, the people who make the manslaughterer a murder are the ones at fault.
Assuming that only white people exploit others is a ‘racist’ belief and statement. Attributing whites to oppression is no different from attributing the consumption of Watermelon to that of African Americans. Or to stinginess to that of Jews, or to violence and Islamic beliefs. If one can say that whites are associated with ‘oppression’ because they do it regularly; one can also say that African Americans are associated with eating watermelon because they do it regularly, or that Jews are cheap because they are inherently cheap. All racial stereotypes are created by observances, by attributing a race to a negative connotation you are doing nothing more than creating another stereotype that others will use despite its questionable accuracy.
I spent two hours writing this for the pleasure of the people who moderate this sites magazine. If this miraculously stays I am happy whoever read this piece got to the end. Hopefully my clumsy words were enough to at least spark some interest in you.
That being said I will conclude with relatively the same words the article did. I, as a human being, refuse to accept the hypocrisy directed towards me and the people I know. I refuse to stay silent.
Quinn get a real job. There are so many different ways to resolve the Blofeld problem you cite….howabout going with your instincts…it was NOT Blofeld! The man had doubles…multitudes of them. The entire point of that sequence was a statement of farewell to the gadgety high tech beyond belief formulae that had been used to death in the previous 6 movies all of which end with Bond escaping an exploding super scientific secret lair while rescuing the girl…something that NEVER happened…not even once…in the novels! And whereas there was no real Fleming novel left…even though many had NOT been filmed, this movie combined a complete short story, Riscio which was the entire Columbo subplot with a number of scenes from earlier novels which did not make it into the movies which bore only their name’. And then you claim the post credit opening parallels Tomorrow Never Dies? If I have to say what is wrong with that statement you would not understand it anyway. The only things in this movie you praise are the action scenes! Most REAL CRITICS…THE ONES WHO CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A LIVING DOING SO regard the earliest Connerrys as the Gold standard….well look at Goldfinger…do you realize how little action is in that movie? You are aware that Giselle WAS NOT MARRIED TO COLUMBO??? No you miss that point. You are aware that when Bond is warning against revenge is that he is warning her NOT TO BECOME WHAT HE HAS BECOME…SOMEONE WHO MUST VISIT HIS WIFE’S GRAVE WHO DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF HIS LIFESTYLE!!! When interpreting a poem one should always look to the first line as it tends to establish tone and introduce theme. The movie begins at Tracy’s grave, Bond is interrupted even here by a priest telling him there is an emergency.”Yes there usually is” he replies.” The tone actually wistful…Bond is needed but in order to be what he is a normal healthy life is forever denied him. This point is emphasized by the Blofeld double immediately attacking. This is why he is telling Melina to dig two graves….notice…”graves”…didn’t the movie start with one? No….. a bit too much thought required there for you ,no? Much easier to point and say “Hypocrite who only wants to get laid! Now where is the cool action?” You seem to love the Brosnan movies…well let me tear one of them a new rectal orifice. How about The World is Not Enough…this was Brosnan’s attempt at a lower toned outing…it opens in a swiss bank with the bank people refusing to give Bond a name but wanting to give him back some ransom money. He refuses, starts a gunfight, shoots a few people then escapes out a window doing a spiderman on a firehose with the money. THEY WERE GIVING HIM THE FUCKING MONEY ANYWAY!!!!!! What was the point of the fight other than to have a fight? Then the money is booby trapped, it is set off by radio from a boat outside MI6 headquarters anchored in plain sight on the Thames! What the FUCK??? Why not set of the radio transmitter in a weather balloon with a big banner so as to avoid ANY POSSIBILITY OF NOT BEING SPOTTED AND IDENTIFIED? And luckily Q just happens ot have an experimental boat ready for Bond to jump into and be torpedoed into the river in pursuit. Later in the movie Bond meets the daughter of the man blown up by the money…she is mad stupid rich and is building a pipeline..she is also some kind of royalty…she snubs Bond but is going to check the pipeline BY HERSELF ON FUCKING SKIS I Why is she going in the first place,,,,she is a multi billionaire and royalty and why on skis??? The pipeline is hundreds of miles long….. WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE CHECK SUCH A THING ON SKIS!!!!???) so Bond goes with her which is lucky as they are attacked and nearly killed by these fan propelled para glider thingees. The rich lady is nearly killed in an avalanche and has a near nervous breakdown…only problem is WE LATER FIND OUT THIS DUMB BITCH IS THE MAIN VILLAIN SO WHO SENT THE FUCKING MURDEROUS PARA GLIDERS WHICH NEARLY FUCKING KILL HER? None of this makes sense..what we do get are action scenes well filmed but still action scenes. But wait we most show how deeply emotional Brosnan is, so after killing the rich villain who he slept with once, who murdered her own father, who attempted to murder M, who was in the process of blowing up all of Istanbul, who murdered his Russian ally, who tried to murder him…who laughed in his face about all of these things…with the clock ticking to Istanbul’s destruction and every second counting,,,he stops everything to grab her up in his arms and kiss her dead dead lips her body pressed to his own…just to show how deeply he feels things. I will take Moore’s wistful reply ot the Priest at the opening of For Your Eyes Only over this over written and over acted pile of bovine excrement any day of the week. Either that or Craig’s The mission;s over. The bitch is dead.” These are his two great loves…Vesper and Tracy. These reactions make sense…one while young and begining his career and the other aged. experienced and with the world in perspective…but Brosnan’s reaction? Pure hyperbolic showboating. Performing for the camera.Most of the time Brosnan on set is posing for the camera…in all of his movies…the child’s fantasy not the adults.
The plots in 3/4 of the Brosnan films and at least 3 of the Moore films and one of the Connery films (perhaps two) are written around action with the plot being an after thought to justify the action and for the most part these are the movies you seem to praise. My evidence…when ranking Bond Villains you disqualify Dr No because we only see him at the end of the movie while giving first place to Blofeld in You Only Live Twice WHO WE ALSO ONLY SEE IN THE END OF THE FUCKING MOVIE IN WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY NOTHING OTHER THAN A BIGGER BUDGET MORE ACTION FILLED BUT LESS LOGICAL REMAKE OF DR NO! Not a remake? Bond investigates space incursions by Spectre, has several assasination attempts against him, has sex with one bad guy girl in an effort to kill him at the behest of the Main Villain’s number one henchman (Dent in Dr No Osato in YOLT) ends up journeying to the Villain’s underground headquarters. He picks up a girl just in time for this visit where he finally meets the villain BOTH OF WHOM…DR NO AND BLOFELD ARE WEARING THE SAME FUCKING SUIT. He has a discussion with head villain, is captive, escapes jsut in time to stop the space intrusion from the underground headquarters, blows up the headquarters and escapes with the girl only to be picked up at sea by his allies just before having sex. One follows a logical sequence and builds momentum while the other is non stop action with huge amounts of totally illogical plot holes. The Japanese secret service sends the usual reception…. FUCKING HELICOPTER MAGNET PICKING UP A CAR OF THUGS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT AND DROPPING THEM IN THE BAY…AGAIN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! Having Bind imprisoned, releasing him. putting him in a plane and crashing the plane to kill him….JUST &^%$ING SHOOT HIM!!!!! But this is the movie you prefer. OK back to For Your Eyes Only….l.Right.And the two sequences in this movie which you praise most highly are those which are directly adapted from Fleming material… the Riscio short story accounted for the entire Columbo Gisselle sequence and the shark trawling was directly from the novel Live And Let Die. I have said this before, how can you present yourself as a Bond expert but you have not and will not read the novels by the original author? My conclusion…there are two categories of Bond films…those made for adults and those made for children. For Your Eyes Only was written with an adult audience in mind as were the next four movies…note no exploding headquarters of super villains at the end of any of these movies. And then comes pretty boy Pierce with his written by committee plots intended as nothing more than to give bad justification for action scenes.and a throwback to exploding secret headquarters and rescued girls to *&^% at the movie’s end, and frankly NONE of his movies come anywhere near For Your Eyes Only…unless of course you are a child.
I just wish to clarify. The school did not decide to write or post this article, El Gato did. In addition to that, it is an opinion piece. Although the school did know this would be posted, they couldn’t do anything about it due to a law that protects students from schools censoring their work. Now, when you say “why does this school have any right to police or jurisdict those who choose to practice ‘racism’ outside of the campus?” are you talking about the administration’s intervention with the student that painted his face black for a prom proposal, or are you talking about this article. Like I said before, although El Gato is Los Gatos High School’s news it isn’t being censored by the administrators. Also, I don’t know if you read this article to see it in time, but the person who did the ‘Blackface’ commented, and I paraphrase, You fit right in with the fake news liberals. Just posting one side of the story.
As I understand, this article is, or at least should be the only side of the story. I don’t understand how one can defend themselves from a racist promposal. It is not as if he was peer-pressured into doing it even though I don’t think that is defendable. Yes, I understand racist humor, but instead of saying something like “I’m sorry, it was just a joke. I didn’t mean for it to offend anyone” he decided to lash out at the people pointing out that what he did was most definitely racist and call them, and I quote “fake news.” I don’t understand why he had to bring politics into it. Calling someone a “fake news liberal” seems pretty defensive for someone who has “another side of the story.” Many people also asked him to reveal his side of the story to which he responded, “come find me, and I will tell you.” Once again I paraphrase since he did delete his comment. Although he decided to delete this comment and one other comment, it doesn’t change the fact that he said it.
You also say that “Attributing whites to oppression is no different from attributing the consumption of Watermelon to that of African Americans. Or to stinginess to that of Jews, or to violence and Islamic beliefs. If one can say that whites are associated with ‘oppression’ because they do it regularly; one can also say that African Americans are associated with eating watermelon because they do it regularly, or that Jews are cheap because they are inherently cheap.” To that, I have to say I agree. There are stereotypes, often inaccurate ones that create false presumptions about people due to their race. However, in this case, if we do use the words you did by saying white people oppressing other races is just a stereotype, it doesn’t matter. Clearly, in this case, someone that happened to be a white person was racist. Does that mean all white people are racist? No. There are many people in the world that are of all different races that are racist. There are also many people from many different racial backgrounds that eat watermelon and are cheap. However, when you use that white people oppress others is just a stereotype and not partially true is poor judgment. Like I said previously, there are white people that aren’t racist, but there are some that are. In this case, there was so for you to defend someone by saying what they did is just a false stereotype is wildly out of perspective.
In addition to everything I have said thus far, when you say, “Injecting personal bias into any written word that I knowingly share leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but if the writer of this article can so shamelessly do so I will express my extreme discontent with the conformist, liberal, and racist connotations associated with the words I had to begrudgingly copy and analyze” it genuinely disgusts me. The fact that you are able to click on an “OPINION” piece and be surprised that there is personal bias is mind-boggling. I understand that any opinion piece regarding a touchy subject such as race, religion, political view, etc., will get some backlash, the fact that you read the entire article, but not the title just shows your closed mindedness. You say at the end of your comment that you felt you had to speak up about people rightfully accusing another person of racism, but you are unable to listen and hear out another person’s “OPINION” is poor. Once again, like the person that did the ‘Blackface’ you bring in “conformist, liberal” which has nothing to do with anything that was being discussed in the article. I feel as though the only reason that people continue to bring it up is that someone decided to speak up for what they believe in and another person decided to shoot their “OPINION” out of the sky because it is “liberal.”
Moreover, you say that “the alumni says it does not surprise him. Clearly, it means that this ‘issue’ is commonplace.” Although this issue may be in the commonplace, it doesn’t mean it is okay. I also think that the alumni says it because when he went to school here, there was probably still a lot of racism back then. He isn’t saying that racism isn’t surprising, he is saying that a Los Gatos student that defends their racism isn’t surprising. Mimicking a fake avatar our not, it was still a racist act. There is racism all over campus, most of these acts aren’t caught because it is people saying things from one person to another. However, when there is a promposal that is put a social media with a well known racist symbol that has been used throughout centuries, it is obviously caught easier.
At the end of the day, people have valid opinions, and although yours is different from mine, we still go to the same school, live in the same town, and just because people don’t seem eye to eye doesn’t mean one person is wrong. People should feel comfortable with who they are no matter the color of their skin, their financial background, or their at home life. I’m not saying we all have to agree, but I ask that we all treat each other like humans and respect one another’s opinions.
El Gato’s policy is to review and publish all comments that contain a commenter’s real first and last name, as well as valid email. This has been our comment policy since the creation of the website. Additionally, El Gato will only delete comments at the request of the commenter.
Bravo! Danika Lyle!!!!
Also something to note…..black face was outlawed by the Actors equity association ( the union for actors and performers on Broadway and professional theaters across this nation) waaaay back when so that if a role was for an African American it could only be PLAYED by and African American. This insuring the livelihoods of these actors. So the excuse that it was only for entertainment value is NOT ANY sort of excuse! Even the professional entertainment industry does not find this amusing or appropriate in any shape or manner!
The most disturbing part about this situation is that white students are discussing whether or not blackface is even offensive. Blackface is disrespectful and discriminatory regardless of the context. It’s extremely disappointing that more people are not condemning this students actions. He understood what he was doing.
What you have to realize is no matter what you intended to mean by it (I will be the first to admit I do not know the full story so this is my perspective), doing blackface will rightfully piss people off. I have nothing against you as a person, but you have to own up when you make a mistake. I know you did not mean to offend people, but when you do something so publicly that is so blatantly racist, it is going to offend people. Again, I have absolutely nothing against you, but calling this ‘fake news’ is not how you handle a situation like this. Be smart, and try to at least acknowledge why this has rightfully caused an uproar, and accept responsibility.
Between the student who performed blackface and the students who liked and commented without calling him out, I hope an LGHS administrator reads this article, looks at the facts of the incident, and realizes the need for cultural education on campus. This is clear to me, and I don’t even go to this school. My high school (in a Sacramento suburb) has been struggling with similar shows of hateful ignorance, and our site and district administrators have started to take small-but-tangible steps in educating students culturally. It is the duty of the high school (and parents!) to prepare students for college and career. Students who think blackface is a harmless joke won’t succeed in an increasingly multicultural world.
I would suggest that Mr. Haidar should be careful about what he posts defending the rights of a white male to wear blackface. Employers don’t tend to like this sort of thing. Once it’s on the Internet – things tend to live on in perpetuity. Who knows where this could end up?
You’re not doing your side much of a favor by leaving one run-on sentence with grammar errors and no explanation whatsoever. It’s easy to call someone out without explaining why. Personally, I don’t see how this is fake news or even yellow journalism in any way.
While I don’t think that students should be completely banned from using such prom themes, I think that using the blackface is pretty bold and offensive, not really a characteristic of a prom ask. It’s completely unnecessary and tactless to use the blackface, especially if you’re going to proudly share it on Instagram.
Wearing blackface regardless of context is racially insensitive. The only two sides of this are: 1- people that do not care about the fact that it is offensive because they believe it is funny or harmless or some other insignificant reason; and 2- people that are socially aware enough to realize that appropriating another ethnicity is selfish and immature.
Nick, if you want to explain your other half of your ask, please do.
What’s the other half of the story, Nick? I find it hard to believe that there’s anything can make the picture I saw acceptable, but if there’s another half… then I’m all ears, bro.
Maybe I lack imagination, but I just can’t think of a single thing that would make me think “Yeah, I’m okay with my hometown being represented like that”