As many of you know, to day, for halloween, I dressed up as my friend Nathan Epps. Nate happens to be black. So what I did was wear my usual cloths I would any other day, then I painted my face with a brown face paint, to match Nates pigment. Then because my hair is nothing like his, I bought a fake afro to wear. Nothing else, no chains, no "bling", no "pimp" attire, just me, as Nate. I got many odd looks, I looked like I could have been an African American, so most of the looks were a double-take type look. I got a bunch of really positive responses, such as, "man thats soo cool," "you totally look like Nate," and my favorite, "your my hero man." But apparently there was a lot of talk behind my back, by people I thought were my friends. Some people called me racist. I didnt understand this, because I'm not being racist. The dictionary defines racist as, "hatred or intolerance of another race or other races." This is not me, not today, not ever. I do not have a hatred or intolerance for any race, and if I was racist against black people, I would most certainly not have been one for halloween. And I would most certainly not have from moment of getting on campus sought out my "fellow" black students.
My history teacher Mrs. Brown asked me if I had gotten any negative feedback, like being called racist, I sayed no, because at the time, i was unaware of the back talk about me. She was surprised, then she asked me if I knew who the "black faces" were. I did, but I hadnt thought about it earlier, she then went on to explain how back in the 1920 through 40s white people would paint their selves black and would mock black people. I thought about this for a while. I'm not mocking anyone, I'm not doing anything of a mocking fashion to offend African Americans. Then later, my friend say, "copying is the highest form of flattering" then went on to explain how me being black is equal to me loving or praising them. Then I thought more about it. And came to the conclusion that there are 3 reasons for copying: to mock, to annoy, or to show love. And I most certainly was not mocking anyone. I'm sure I annoyed a few people, but that was by complete accident, plus, if I annoy you, DONT BE AROUND ME! It doesnt help you to be annoyed and it sure doesnt help me, because, I can tell when your annoyed, for the most part. So the last option left is to show love. And unless you think that showing love to someone is racist, then I am not racist. Im quite the opposite.
One last thing I thought was very interesting about all of this, was the only people who said anything about me being racist were... WHITE! woah! All the black people I saw that day thought what I did was awesome, but for some reason the white people got offended. Would a white person be offended if a black person painted his or her skin paler and did something if his or her hair, nothing else, wore their normal cloths and acted the same as usual? Dave Chapple does it all the time, the one difference is he is there to mock, but we dont find that offensive. I dont get offended when I think about Michael Jackson's skin color change.
So really, am I racist, or is it you who is far far over sensitive about things like this, because you live in "Serrano" of "El Dorado Hills," the whitest place on earth. I'm sorry I grew up in Milwaukee were nobody was racist because everyone lived together peacefully. So shut up and suck it!
Bravo ragazzi
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