Governor Ralph Northam came under fire because of a picture of two Halloween costumes in his medical school yearbook. He has claimed that the photo was not of him, but added that he had dressed in blackface in the past. Even though this picture was taken decades ago, this caused a situation that almost cost him his position.
One question that may remain after all the dust has settled is why blackface is so offensive.
Cultural appropriation has gotten people into trouble in the past. Last year a teenager from Salt Lake City faced backlash after wearing a traditional Chinese dress to prom. Some may consider blackface to be cultural appropriation, but the history behind blackface makes it into something much more sinister.
(You can read more about it on the Today show webpage here.)
Blackface goes far beyond cultural appropriation. It originated from performances that spread stereotypes of African-American people. These shows characterized them as ‘lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hyper sexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice’.
These stereotypes caused problems when African-Americans started to integrate into society. They created images in the minds of people who have never interacted with an African-American person.
(The Smithsonian expands upon this in an essay you can read here.)
If Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax had not been accused, would Governor Northam have been able to keep his position?
According to a Pew Research Center poll (which you can find here), about one-third of Americans consider blackface to be sometimes acceptable at Halloween.
Overall, 34% of the respondents to the survey consider blackface to be sometimes acceptable at Halloween versus 53% that say it is rarely or never acceptable. Democrats find it not acceptable more often than Republicans. The younger the age of the respondent, the less likely they are to find blackface acceptable.
Looking at numbers from the 2010 US Census (accessible here) the largest sections of the population were ages 15 to 49. Considering the results of the 2018 midterms where the Democrat Senate candidate won by a margin of 57.1% to 41.1% for the Republican candidate and 1.8% for independent candidates.
If the Pew survey is to be believed, there will be some difficulties faced by Northam if he is to stay. Northam plans to spend time essentially saying sorry, but will he be able to apologize enough or with this be forever around his neck.
Sources:
“Teen who wore traditional Chinese dress to prom sparks fury”, Rheana Murray, Today, https://www.today.com/style/teen-who-wore-traditional-chinese-dress-prom-faces-backlash-t128426
US 2010 Census, http://www.census.gov
“Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype”, National Museum of African American History and Culture, https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype
“About a third of Americans say blackface in a Halloween costume is acceptable at least sometimes”, Anna Brown, Pew Research Center, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/2/11/about-a-third-of-americans-say-blackface-in-a-halloween-costume-is-acceptable-at-least-sometimes/
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