Racist Party at Hamline Under Investigation
Haven’t we been through this before? Oh yeah.
Hamline University has suspended six players from its football team for donning blackface and body paint to dress up as African tribesmen for an off-campus Halloween party, an incident that has sparked a discussion about racial sensitivity at the St. Paul liberal arts college.
The players are off the football team for the rest of the season but not out of school. Hard to tell from the article if it’s really an “uproar” but 100 students attending a forum on the issue is a good-sized crowd, considering Hamline only has a few thousand students.
Same as the Macalester incident, we have a friend of the offenders defending their actions because they didn’t mean anything by it. From that Strib article:
Sophomore Tasha Simmons, a friend of the students involved, said the matter has been blown out of proportion and taken out of context. “People misunderstood,” she said… Simmons said the costumes — which included black Under Armour-type clothing and tight black pants — were creative. “It wasn’t supposed to be offensive whatsoever,” she said… The students are apologetic and hurt that people are suggesting that their motives were racist, Simmons said. “They have friends who are African-American and Native American,” she said. “They have diversity in their families.”
I said it before and I’ll say it again:
Newsflash, kids: Just because you didn’t mean to be offensive doesn’t mean you weren’t.
In that Strib article, Hamline’s head of African-American Studies, professor Samuel Imbo, put it a little more eloquently than I:
Imbo, an African immigrant, said it’s possible that the students did not understand that painting their faces black might offend someone. “They probably did not know, but they should know,” he said. “The offense here is not even being aware of American history. And not knowing this history leads people to do this kind of thing.”
This is where the problem with race in our society has evolved to. Kids who are brought up to “not see color” are ignorant of how embedded racism is and have no sense of the gravity of meaning in a noose or in blackface.
Rule of thumb: If you are putting on blackface because you think it is somehow funny, you should not do it. Just don’t.
Rule of thumb: If you are putting on blackface because you think it is somehow funny, you should not do it. Just don’t.
This falls under the common-sense category you *think* people have… sadly, not the case.
What business is it of the university what they do? What other conduct is unacceptable? Is there a guidebook? Can I be kicked off the team (or out of the university) for a criminal offense (DUI or assault)? Is there a morals clause when admitted to the school? Do they go after unwed mothers too? The school should butt out.
What business is it of the university what they do? What other conduct is unacceptable? Is there a guidebook? Can I be kicked off the team (or out of the university) for a criminal offense (DUI or assault)? Is there a morals clause when admitted to the school? Do they go after unwed mothers too? The school should butt out.
I imagine there’s a student code of conduct. Plus, Hamline is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Can I be kicked off the team (or out of the university) for a criminal offense (DUI or assault)? — Probably, and I don’t see why you shouldn’t be.
Being a private school, Hamline can pretty much set the standards that they want Todd.
Northwestern in Roseville requires all students and employees to abstain from alcohol and premarital sex, on or off campus. They used to even prohibit dancing.
This is probably amplified by the fact that the students involved had voluntarily agreed to be public representatives of the university by being members of the football team.
You might argue about the wisdom of such codes, and whether they conflict with professions of academic freedom, but part of the university’s job is to provide a safe and inclusive environment that is conducive to learning, for all of its students.
The discussion on this topic at mnspeak wasn’t too bad. But I’ll reiterate (again) my statement that just because someone didn’t mean to be offensive doesn’t mean they weren’t.
A supposed Hamline student left a comment there about how PC it is and how students are always running to the administration complaining about something a fellow student did.
As far as Hamline’s — or any school’s — code of conduct, students agree to abide by it when they matriculate. So if folks think it’s overreaching, they should go somewhere else. Besides, what would you expect at a school with religious affiliation?
I guess I’d like to see students check each other more, without having to go directly through the school. In this case maybe that would have manifested as some sort of groundswell on Facebook? But I guess you don’t hear about it when that happens. And if there are enough students organizing around an issue, I would hope the administration is at least monitoring the situation.
so, black face is offensive because once upon at time it used to be offensive?
Why is it that donning black face for a party where no racial slurs or negative stereotypes were portrayed worse than dressing in drag and pretending to be a horny old lady at the 90’s?
um, given the history of black face, the use of it is re-enforcing a negative stereotype.
Would you even consider going to a party in a costume adorned with swastikas?
David: actually, yeah, if it was a Hallowe’en party, and it was my intention to dress as a sort of monster. And unlike HRH Harry, I probably wouldn’t apologize for it either.
Also, given the historical use of blackface, wouldn’t doing its opposite be just as offensive?
Doing its opposite is incredibly tasteless (and unfunny), but I wouldn’t say it’s equally as offensive.