majorspark;1523249 wrote:Well how long does it take then? A few hundred years? A thousand? My ancestors on my Fathers side are all amish/mennonite decedents of the Anabaptist movement. They were persecuted and killed as heretics by the Roman Catholic church for going against their teachings concerning baptism. The term Anabaptist itself was at the time a disparaging term.
If I go to a halloween party and see someone dressed in a pope or crusader costume I am not offended. Nor am I offended if a Catholic high school's mascot is the crusaders. I am just not going to get offended by something that does not have malicious intent behind it whether it be in bad taste or not.
Maybe I should be offended that the pope said ideological Christians are an illness. After all what do we want to do with an illness?
You're comparing civil issues from the 17th century to racial tension from the 1960s. Your ancestors aren't alive. However, plenty of people who lived through the race riots and civil rights movement still walk this earth today. Those people raised children who are now in positions of influence and power. I guarantee you that if the crusades happened 50 years ago and some schmuck dressed up as a menonite to halloween party, people would be upset. Regardless if it was meant to be all in fun.
sleeper;1523285 wrote:I think what needs to change is to stop associating everything white people do that doesn't bend over backwards for black people as racism. Being usually the only white guy that plays basketball with black people, I get made fun of all the time for being a "white boy"(however, reality is, just because you are black does not mean you are good at basketball, it just means you are typically a little more athletic). I think its funny and I'm proud of my skin color. However, if the shoe was on the other foot(say country line dancing) can you imagine the outrage of singling out the black man? Sort of like the black panthers and the NCAAP; both highly racist organizations that don't get any negative backlash for claiming black superiority however it's the exact same thing as the KKK(white supremacy). The hypocrisy is overwhelming and needs to end on both sides.
Black people are sensitive because they are taught to be offended. Wouldn't it be better if people just understood the context that these people weren't trying to be offensive and just laugh at the perception of Africa(which can even be wrong given some African countries are fairly modern).
You're right. It would be a lot better if we could just laugh at it. But it's hard to laugh when you see someone dressed up as a KKK member to an African themed party. There's nothing wrong with dressing up for halloween or whatever, hell the host went as Cleopatra. But there's a big difference between dressing up for fun and just being offensive. Putting on the KKK custome can be interpreted as a deliberate attempt at being racist. What if someone went to a German themed party and sported a Nazi costume?
sleeper;1523293 wrote:I will say I took an African history class and the professor was from Nigeria and would get upset about people thinking Africa is just a continent full of monkeys, lions, and zebras. His main goal of the class was to teach about the real Africa and some of the problems that are still plaguing the continent. I don't blame most Americans(or Australians in this case) for not knowing a lot about Africa since its African history is not taught to many people outside of electives in college. Thinking about the context of the party and it doesn't surprise me people still think of Africa as a bunch of uncivilized black people running around with elephants and monkeys; is ignorance their fault?
For me, this is the most disheartening. Understanding another culture and respecting that culture is the first step in solving any kind of race issue. And I don't think ignorance is their fault per se. However, exploiting that ignorance and then trying to pass it off as "just for fun" is stupid and insensitive. It goes both ways. I wouldn't allow my son or daughter to put chalk on their face and act like rednecks, regardless of whether or not they think it's funny.
I think a proper way to have an African themed party would be to maybe narrow down a specific country in Africa, and then have a party based on that country's culture. That's what I would do.
