Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Atlantic

    Are All Instances of Blackface Alike?

    Perhaps there is a difference between donning it to mock black people and donning it to resemble someone, as Mark Herring did.
    by John McWhorter Feb 10, 2019 5 minutes
    Source: Aaron Bernstein / Reuters

    Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring blacked up his face in 1980 when dressing as Kurtis Blow. Herring admitted what he did and apologized. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s yearbook page contains a photo of a man in blackface next to someone dressed as a Klansman. Northam admitted that he was one of the men and apologized, then said perhaps he wasn’t in the photograph at all.

    Is it right to treat these two acts in the same way, as unforgivable acts of racism, even white supremacy?

    I wonder if we are allowing social progress to detour into a kind of reflexive shaming. I wonder if all blacking up is alike, or if even blackface contains shades of grey.

    Perhaps there is a difference between blacking up to mock black people, as the person pictured on Northam’s yearbook page seems to have done, and blacking up in affectionate imitation.

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Atlantic

    The Atlantic7 min read
    Are You A Platonist Or An Aristotelian?
    Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. Growing up, my older brother was a good student, interested in science. We shared a bedroom, so I benefited from his knowledge at night as we lay i
    The Atlantic4 min read
    The Swing States Are in Good Hands
    In thinking about the days and weeks after November 5, when unfounded attacks on the vote count and the integrity of America’s election are most likely to arise, one must begin with an uncomfortable acknowledgment: The threat to the fair evaluation o
    The Atlantic6 min read
    America’s Strangest Tourist Destination
    At a gate topped by barbed wire just north of White Sands Missile Range, a miles-long line of vehicles formed before dawn on Saturday. Once or twice a year, the U.S. Army rolls this gate open so that ordinary citizens can set foot upon the precise pa

    Related Books & Audiobooks