This week students at Hautes Etudes Commerciales, a Montreal business school, were filmed “wearing black makeup [and] chant[ing] with mock Jamaican accents about smoking marijuana” as part of a skit (source). A student explained that it was part of a skit in honor of Jamacian Olympian Usain Bolt. A spokesperson for the school explained that Francophone Canadians were unaware of the racial history behind blackface.
Anthony Morgan, a law student at McGill University, caught the students on film. He welcomed an apology from the school, is eager to follow up on their own investigation of the incident and, in the meantime, is filing a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission (source). He explained:
[Being black] is not a costume that you put on… This is not just about a few bad apples. This is about a greater problem about what we think about, how we value, how we understand, how we discuss — if we discuss — black history, culture and contribution.
Race-themed events at colleges and universities are a yearly ritual. I include our collection of such parties and “celebrations” below.
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Pictures from a “South of the Border” party at Santa Clara University in California. Indeed, that IS a pregnant woman, cleaning ladies, and a slutty gang member.
A party in honor of Martin Luther King Day at Tarleton State University in Texas:
A party in honor of Martin Luther King Day at Clemson College in South Carolina:
A party in honor of Martin Luther King Day at University of Connecticut School of Law:
A Delta Sigma Phi Halloween party (in 2001) at Auburn University (via):
The Greek letters on the purple shirts reference a black fraternity on campus.
A party at the University of Delaware in 2007 (via Resist Racism):
Members of the Athletics Union at the London School of Economics painted their faces brown and “dressed up as Guantanamo Bay inmates and drunkenly yelled ‘Oh Allah’…” At least 12 students were found to have dressed up in costumes that were deemed “racist, religiously insensitive and demeaning.” Here’s one picture I was able to find:
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
