[Ampersand]

"Apparently, it's funny when a black person paints his face white but it's racist if a white person puts on black makeup."

I don't recall anyone finding it racist when Billy Crystal wore realistic makeup to do his imitation of Sammy Davis Jr. on Saturday Night Live - because it wasn't racist, just funny. But highly realistic makeup - whether it's Crystal doing Sammy Davis, or Eddie Murphy doing Richard Simmons - isn't at all the same thing as blackface.

Blackface has a long, racist history, and it's dishonest to pretend that history doesn't exist. It's also dishonest to pretend there's no difference between what Crystal and Murphy do and a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

[F-117A]

...a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

Drunk? Sounds like you've got prejudices of your own!

P.s. Is it racist is a black shows up at a party in blackface?

[BearCub]

Blackface has a long, racist history, and it's dishonest to pretend that history doesn't exist. It's also dishonest to pretend there's no difference between what Crystal and Murphy do and a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

They were dressed up as the Jackson Five for a party at Halloween [time]. Would it have been different if they were wearing commerically made masks that happened to be of black people - a group of Colin Powels, for example?

[A2J]

Blackface has a long, racist history, and it's dishonest to pretend that history doesn't exist. It's also dishonest to pretend there's no difference between what Crystal and Murphy do and a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

So what about whether blackface has a history.

Kappa Sigma is a PRIVATE organization that pays the university rental fees to be on campus. If they want to paint their faces ANY color, that's their business, regardless the fact that doing so may offend the sleeveful of emotions that certain groups carry.

[TopQuark]

Blackface has a long, racist history, and it's dishonest to pretend that history doesn't exist. Please educate me on this one: what is the racist history behind the blackface?

It's also dishonest to pretend there's no difference between what Crystal and Murphy do and a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

Judging from the article, they did not put a blackfacer: thhey dressed as well-known entertainers that happen to black, hence the completeness of image required the change of skin color, much like in the case of Crystal, of whom you do not disapprove.

[John Jorsett]

Blackface has a long, racist history, and it's dishonest to pretend that history doesn't exist. It's also dishonest to pretend there's no difference between what Crystal and Murphy do and a bunch of drunk frat boys putting on blackface.

Free speech doesn't mean just speech that doesn't offend anyone. It means just about anything short of inciting a riot or a panic. If Andres Serrano can suspend a cross in a jar of urine, then frat boys can put on blackface. I hope these people sue the university's butt off.

[tracer]

Don't forget Murphy's SNL sketch wherein he disguised himself as a white businessman to discover that "white people act differently when there are no black folks around."

The name of his character was none other than "Mr. White," who mastered the "walk and speech patterns of a white man" to ensure the success of his fact-finding mission....

[ohioman]

Boo fricken hoo! Tell it to the PC crowd that is currently destroying America. You will get no quarter here, since we at FR are well aware that liberals are dangerous to the future of America.