Well, probably not the first blackface sighting but the first one that made us say - say what?
Back story:
On New Year's Day, a ten-year-old fan of Britain's Leeds United footballer El Hadji Diouf, dressed up as his sports idol. Unfortunately, Diouf is Black and the boy is not. The outfit included the uniform, a white mohawk, and brown face paint to match his idol's appearance. The boy went to the game, met Diouf, and posted the photos on Twitter.
Side note: Why is a 10-year-old on Twitter? Call us old-fashioned.
Leave it to Twitter to correct the child who was immediately berated with insults and cries of racism. Soon, his father came to the rescue, adding "He asked to dress up as Diouf so we let him for a bit of fun. We completely underestimated the response it would get. Hes only 10 and likes the banter so lay off please thanks for positive comments.”
The little boy later apologized, "I didnt realise i wud get this much attention thanks for your comments but im gonna watch rest of match now. Just to let u know that the makeup and hairstuff i was wearing was from a fancy dress shop and washed straight off am now in my pjs.”
Poor kid.
Teachable moment, anyone?
Now we don't blame the child. At all. Kids don't automatically know that things like Blackface are unacceptable. But parents do. And those are lessons they need to teach their children. Wash your hands. Don't pick your nose. Don't paint your face the color of another's skin. Not too hard.
We blame the parents completely. If they had told him "yes" to the footballer uniform but "no" to the face paint, the little fan could have learned this lesson in the privacy of his own home instead of on the public domain of Twitter.
Read more here.
