Given my column strongly disagreeing with the premise of a recent New York Times column suggesting that House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes could be charged with obstruction of the memo released by the Committee, I am reluctant to raise yet another Times column. However, the Times yesterday ran a piece that highlights the growing angst over every costume and image as a possible act of “cultural appropriation.” In an article entitled “Who’s Allowed to Wear A Black Panther Mask?”, the newspaper interviews experts on whether white children should be allowed to wear the costume of the popular character. While the verdict was that white children could wear the outfits, it was not without trepidation and the need for some pre-playtime exploration of the racial, socio-economic, and political implications for the children.
Here is the set up:
Black Panther costumes — whether the character’s full raiment or just his claws and mask — are on toy store shelves (and, of course, on Amazon) in anticipation of the film’s Feb. 16 release. At best, the character get-ups speak to the enthusiastic embrace of a black superhero. At worst, they could be perceived as an unwitting form of cultural appropriation, which has in recent years become a subject of freighted discourse.
I have written columns and blogs through the years about the disturbing trend on U.S. campuses toward free speech regulation and controls. In the name of diversities and tolerance, college administrators and professors are enforcing greater and greater controls on speech –declaring certain views or terms to be forms of racism or more commonly “microaggressions.” Now protesters are seeking to declare classics as microaggressions and a university has again folded in the face of the mob.
We have seen students rise in protest over what they believe is “cultural appropriation” in schools offering yoga or students wearing dreadlocks or serving Mexican food. Recently students at Oberlin even fought to stop the school from offering students sushi as “cultural appropriation.” We have even seen the mispronouncing of names or the cancelling of the performance of Aida as either cultural appropriations or microagressions or both.
The expanding objections to cultural appropriations has extended outside of universities, as we saw with the protests over two white women opening a taco truck.
In this case, the New York Times struggles with the question of whether a parent should allow a white children to emulate the Black Panther. The angst-filled article appears to give reluctant acceptance to permitting white kids to do so, but not without interjecting society’s problems and race into their playtime.
Brigitte Vittrup, an associate professor of early childhood development and education at Texas Woman’s University, counsels caution: “we need to be very aware of what that says.” She added
“White people have the privilege of not constantly being reminded of their race in the United States, where white is the majority, whereas as a black person you don’t . . . Kids are not colorblind. There’s a lot of structural inequality in our society, and kids are noticing that. By not mentioning it, by not talking about it, we’re essentially preserving the status quo.”
The entire premise of the New York Times article is asinine.
American blacks are hardly in a position to complain about “cultural appropriation,” since they excel at it. They’re the ones who claim the Greek Cleopatra was really a negress. They’re the ones who claim that sub-Saharan blacks invented algebra, but the Hindus somehow “stole” it from them. They’re the ones who give their kids Arab names (Kwame, Rashad, Kareem, Aisha, and so on) and otherwise try to appropriate everything Arabic as sub-Saharan African, an entirely different race and culture. So if kids of any race want to wear the costume of a fantasy super-hero, just relax and be happy that he’s not asking for a Rob Porter doll.
Not to mention the whole hair weave thing where they wear white girl hair on their heads! I noticed in some of the promos for Black Panther that a lot of the Wakanda chicks are bald!
https://ewedit.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/000260902hr.jpg
Sooo, either no white girl weave available, or Wakanda has a lice problem???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Setting aside the fact this movie would never have been made had the technology not been culturally appropriated to make it; what would this movie actually look like if we removed everything that was culturally appropriated?
Does “cultural appropriation” run both ways? Is it cultural appropriation when people of color adopt some European or Caucasian thing or activity? If so, then Marian Anderson should not have been allowed to sing opera at all, and Condoleeza Rice should not be allowed to play the piano, as both opera and the piano are
European (specifically, Italian) creations. Also, Chloe Kim should not ever have been allowed to step on a snowboard. Most of the world needs to step back from soccer, too.
If it doesn’t run both ways, then it fails to follow Kant’s description of the categorical imperative: “”So act as if your maxims should serve at the same time as the universal law (of all rational beings).” But who needs philosophy at times like these?
Of course kids can wear whatever superhero costume they want without agonizing over race. They can dress as Maui or Black Panther. And emphatically no this does not require any racial discussions.
Do we want our kids to all play together without regard for race, or not?
Are they suggesting that black or Polynesian heroes are the only ones that some kids are not allowed to dress up as because they are the wrong skin color? Does anyone else hear how racist that sounds? That would mean that the Black Panther merchandizing franchise would never do as well as white characters because only a minority of people would be allowed to buy it. And why not ban the movie from being viewed by whites?
There is no cultural appropriation. This is a fictional universe with super powers that doesn’t exist. You also cannot culturally appropriate from the Na’avi because Pandora doesn’t exist.
The phrase cultural appropriation needs to die. We have shared fashion and ideas since before the wheel.
For heaven’s sake, even the image from the NYT article makes it appear as if buying your kid a Black Panther set takes it out of the hands of a cute little black kid.
This is hysteria.
Don’t drag children into racism against whites.
I am only so glad that Progressive types like the NYT author do everything they can to make Americans love and embrace each other, to be united as one American people!
/sarc off
Without identity politics and the hatred it causes, they is no such thing as an American Progressive movement.
I know the more power that one Party acquires, the more likely is corruption. But I just can’t help but hope and pray they GOP picks up an overwhelming # of seats this year, and the DNC Progressive movement is just completely incinerated.
Progressives can own and likely shall always own MSM; I don’t want them running policy.
First things first: A “black panther” is not its own species—it’s an umbrella term that refers to any big cat with a black coat. So let’s just consider it regular colored cat with a melanin issue and any kid could dress as he or she please.
““She believes that parents in general, and white parents in particular, are reluctant to talk about race with young children. ”
Uh, maybe because common sense conversations about race with your kids can get you fired from your job. Like John Derbyshire, who once made the following very obvious points:
Failure to follow those common sense rules have gotten a lot of white people killed. And a lot of black people, too.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I disagree with 10g. The others seem like simple common sense, considering the odds.
As a woman, I would also apply most of those rules by substituting “men” in place of “blacks”.
I am a little iffy on 10g myself. But, a lot of black politicians are where they are simply because of their color. I mean, does anybody think Maxine Waters is smart? Or even a decent human being? Plus, I think most American blacks resent and despise white people. Because they have been taught from early on that whites are responsible for every thing bad that happens to them. That hatred doesn’t just evaporate. That is also a big reason why they can’t get their crap together.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Regarding Maxine Waters I would submit that she is one of the dumbest people ever elected to office. And she views nearly everything view the prism of race.
I would also submit that the now incumbent President is nearly as stupid. He makes colossal errors of judgment with his hyperactive use of Twitter and his inability to read is evidence of a lack of intellectual ability (and worse) intellectual curiosity.
Well, before there was T’Challa, there was Mr. T, and there were Mr. T costumes.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8oV_djK5FnA/TM5KUR-uYqI/AAAAAAAAAQM/gI99cmXkOLs/s320/BLOG.halloween_mr+t_003.jpg
But really, the hype about this movie is ridiculous. I have read that Wakanda, Black Panther’s high tech country in Africa, is what Africa would have looked like if not for colonization and slavery. No, it wouldn’t. It would look like the Zulus, who were pretty much cattle farmers. And pretty good with spears.
But, I am the curious sort, sooo several days ago, I posted this on Penelope’s twitter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DV8jLn3UQAAq3_F.jpg
Because I am just betting that it is NOT 77%, or anything like that. I am not sure of that, which is why I am asking, but I just bet that Little Wakandan kids get their butts spanked if they get notes from the teacher about them misbehaving, and I just bet that Wakandan Yutes don’t kill other Wakandan Yutes over their shoes. And I just bet that Wakandans don’t know what a “baby daddy” is. Because that kind of crap doesn’t work in a modern technological society.
But, maybe like American Blacks, Wakandans are special. Color me curious.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
That is a very good question, Squeeky. I, too, am curious. Hopefully someone here knows the answer.
That paper is a white owned institution and in taking this stance they are guilty themselves of cultural misappropriation which is at best some deviant form of reverse racism itself. What happens when PCRap runs wild in a panic for inventing words they are not equipped to read in their Fictionary.
This is the same BS that goes on with sports teams and other groups naming themselves after superior warriors or other peoples: Braves, Spartans, Trojans (even though they lost), Black Hawks, etc. Wearing a Black Panther costume is the greatest sign of admiration a ‘White’ kid can perform. It represents equality just as a Black kid who wears a Superman costume. Those who argue against this are the true racists that keep the cultures separated. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Emulating greatness, regardless of color, is the ultimate equalizer.
What have you done with our friend issac? He never writes like this.
Your friend Issac inhabits the center with some toes to the right and some to the left. This is called free thinking and comes as a result of living in other countries, Canada, France, etc. My experience has shown me that the US is the most polarized of the Western nations. That is not to say that other countries don’t have the left and the right, but simply are less obliged to belong to either side on every issue. We tend to recognize that which we hear from other countries as perceived through our own glass darkly.
So, in the end the truths are to be found on both sides of the equation, near the center, unless of course one sees only what one wishes to see and hears only what one wishes to hear. In order to truly understand what is going on, however, one must look at and listen to everything, even the hypocrisy. Otherwise how would one truly know?
Concepts for True-Blue Democrats to obsess over.
I hate to break it to them, but the Black Panther is not a new character. In fact, he’s older than a lot of the people making these accusations, and he was created in precisely the opposite spirit of this nonsense. If anyone is doing any ‘appropriating’ in this situation, it’s them. Then again, millennials excel at appropriation in every conceivable way (and yes, I looked it up, you can too: the NYT’s editor has for a few years been the younger son of the former editor. Guess which cohort he belongs to?) claiming it as ‘discovery’ or worse, ‘innovation’. There is no reason whatsoever to pay any attention to their puerile and revisionist thinking.
Kids are not colorblind. There’s a lot of structural inequality in our society, and kids are noticing that.
Horseshit. Kids don’t notice color until they are taught to notice it.
Absolutely true.
My son was 5 when I bought our current home. He discovered a (black) girl across the street his own age he could play with. He could never remember her name. So one day he asked to go outside to play with the curly haired girl across the street. Now 9, he’ll use her name and when I pretend to not know who he is talking about, he still describes her as the curly haired girl. At some point he’ll describe someone by their color and at that point I’ll ask him why?
Cell phones invented in America…….used extensively in America and Africa by blacks, Asians, Hispanics……that must be cultural appropriation.
I remember the Black Panther comics back in the 1950s and I thought he was a great character, but I did not want to be him. Tarzan was a great character but I did not want to be him either. Iron Man is cool, though. Personally, I do not care what the kid dresses as I do not answer my door on Halloween. Other than that I think the NYT is writing articles to fill space in a dying paper. Who cares what the NYT thinks?
More white, liberal tripe showing that they really, really hate only one race — their own. They need a Thanatos dress up day at the NYT. Nobody cares what costume you buy for your kid.
answer to “Who’s allowed to Wear a Black Panther Mask” ?- anyone who wants to
problem solved
Is there “handwringing” at the Koch’s lair?
In chronicling its demise, a study about the Tea Party shows us that the organization was created as an anti-Obama tactic and it was bred on resentments. Oh, the irony, that those at the root cause of the resentments, those who concentrated wealth to the point that labor’s share of national income is at its lowest point in recorded history, profited from their tactic, while the unwitting “patriots” lost more power in the U.S. The Koch’s Tea Party prescription was always planned to increase harm to the 99%.
As proof, one only needs to go to ALEC Exposed.
This is not entirely true. The original tea party movement was sort of hijacked from the Ron Paul movement. It started out with the Paul mantra, “Sound money (audit the Fed so we can see where all that money goes around the world), smaller government, etc. It sounded clever, so some opportunists put on its clothes and took on its neocon traits somewhere along the way, and became a poor argument; so it unceremoniously died. The original concept is live and well, just not under that appropriated name. Still hope for us who don’t seem to think the magic government staffed by the anointed is the answer to all real and perceived problems.
Maybe a little reminder of “old school (or more correctly, ‘pre-insane’)” Democrat ideals in an interesting article. Please be seated when you read this, I don’t want to be blamed for any hyperventilating head injuries from the lefties here.
https://reason.com/archives/2018/02/09/what-jimmy-carter-and-jerry-brown-can-te
Linda:
“labor’s share of national income is at its lowest point in recorded history” – How is that even possible? We were told that if the US voted for Obama, twice, that this would solve the whole problem. The US was told that if they vote for their local Democrat politician, that poverty and “income inequality” would be solved.
Detroit should be a Nirvana straight out of Tomorrowland.
You would almost think they were deliberately making false promises to get elected…
Oh, and 2008 was when the seas stopped rising. That’s what Obama said. We would look back upon that day as the day the seas stopped rising and the Earth stopped warming. The day income inequality ended. The day healthcare became affordable to all, and if you liked your plan, you could keep your plan. If you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor. The average middle class family was going to save $2500 a year.
Obama said it, so it must be true. To say otherwise is either racist or a Russian plot.
Russian trolls defend the Koch’s and disparage Democrats. Voting Republican guarantees the loss of democracy. Putin plots along side the richest 0.1% to create the U.S. oligarchy. Republican politicians who are running interference for Russia in the investigations by the House, Senate and Mueller will deliver what Russian leadership wants- an end to criminalization of money laundering.
Are Marvel Comics and the Black Panther Organization guilty of species appropriation?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/style/black-panther-children-costumes.html
If you read the opinion editorial linked above, then you should have a hard time finding any of the notions with which Turley evidently disagrees in his original post for this thread.
Da prof is playin to squekkky and her her loyal army of gateway pundits. Nothin new.
Ken, you’re probably right. Turley tied this one in with all of the other stuff “he’s recently been discussing.”
P. S. Etouffe looks good. Especially the crawdad rendition. Is it anything like paella?
Nothinlike paella. Has a roux sauce. Ate some at my local Cajun place yesterday.
Just another post by JT to not talk about the number 3 leaving from justice, or the total breakdown of the Trump cartel. Statues and black panther masks are the dog whistle of the day.
Fishy:
#3 leaving at DOJ is the breakup of the Obama cartel along with all the demotions and reassignments.
From the Wikipedia article on Rachel Brand:
“Rachel Lee Brand (born May 1, 1973) is an American lawyer, academic, and government official. She was sworn in as the United States Associate Attorney General on May 22, 2017, after being nominated to the position by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate.
Prior to becoming Associate Attorney General, Brand was an associate professor at Antonin Scalia Law School. On February 9, 2018, the Justice Department announced that Brand plans to step down in the coming weeks.”
Nominated by Trump. Associate Professor at Antonin Scalia Law School. Not a member of the Obama administration.
I would explain it to you but you would either not understand or refuse to understand. Brand is a swamp creature.
Trump and his trumpettes frequently engage in non-denial denials (See: Rob Porter). But Anonemouse has just created a new figure of speech called denial denial. Trump has no choice but to hire swamp creatures one after another, after another. So Trump has no choice but to fill the swamp to drain the swamp. You’re hired; you resign. You’re hired; your fired. Back and forth, back and forth–hire the swamp; fire the swamp. Just like Trump used to do on the TV. Hence: denial denial.
Fishy:
She was a former Bush appointee and as swampy as they come. Nice try to obfuscate.
Mespo727272 is probably betting that Ms. Brand will soon be appearing on the TV political shows defending the Special Counsel’s investigation and counter-attacking the Trump/Nunes smear campaign against the FBI and DOJ. And that is why Mespo727272 is attempting to preempt Ms. Brand with a little smear campaign of his own device. Nice try at poisoning the well, Once-ler.
She doesn’t need my help, she’ll smear herself.
Da Obama DOJ indicted Johnny Edwards over payment to da mistress. Do ya think da T rump DOJ should indict Cohen for payments to Stormy.
Trump gets another mulligan.
Ms. Cliffords claims she free to talk all she wants, now. She also says the signature on the denial letter doesn’t look like hers. Uh-oh! SpaghettiOs.
Obama Cartel is the only one actually in danger of going to prison.
Denial must deny itself its denial.
Here’s a few sentences from the opinion editorial that Turley elided from his quotaion of Ms. Vittrup. They are not in quotation marks, but the views are attributed to Ms. Vittrup:
“She believes that parents in general, and white parents in particular, are reluctant to talk about race with young children. When they do, they often miss the chance to talk about inequality, even though research supports the idea that children develop an awareness of race and difference at a very young age.
Ms. Vittrup was careful to add that dressing as Black Panther isn’t inherently appropriative or offensive.”
Well then, why elide that last sentence from Ms. Vittrup’s views on the subject, just because there were no quotation marks around it?
L4D:
“She believes that parents in general, and white parents in particular, are reluctant to talk about race with young children. When they do, they often miss the chance to talk about inequality, even though research supports the idea that children develop an awareness of race and difference at a very young age.
***********************
Poppycock. I talk and talked to my kids about race and dealing with people all the time. I told them you judge people like diamonds — one at a time. Their immutable characteristics are irrelevant to that assessment. I also told them judging by those immutable characteristics is the essence of bigotry and un-American. I also told them no one can make them feel guilty unless they let them and that usually the guilt peddlers are doing so to scam you since, in the main, you usually have nothing to feel guilty about since neither you nor your ancestors had anything to do with anyone else’s plight. I also told them they aren’t responsible for things they don’t do or for things their family or friends might have done. Everybody is born with a clean slate so to that extent everyone is equal. I told them there is inequality — some man-made and some the product of the natural world. The solution for both is hard work. All in all it’s an easy conversation if you aren’t a rank sentimentalist laboring under delusions about the world and its inhabitants. Finally, I told them that realism sure beats the daylights out of the fantasy that a lot of people try to sell for profit. My kids have a healthy skepticism about the world but aren’t cynics. They see those bright diamonds among all the dunghills.
I am White. I am a historical beneficiary of racism because I’m White. That my ancestors didn’t get off the boat in America until the beginning of The Twentieth Century in no way whatsoever refutes the foregoing observation that I am a historical beneficiary of racism because I am White. I see no point to denying it.
Throwing yourself on your own sword doesn’t give you a sharp wit.
That’s a good point Darren. Ancient Romans, when overwrought by guilt, would throw themselves on their swords to end their misery — and the misery of folks around them who had to hear all that wailing. We ought to encourage that kind of nobility again! Sad to say this current crop of mass men and mass women don’t have that kind of class or guts — so we suffer their endless self-flagellations. And as we know, misery sure loves company so that want us tied to their whipping post. Hey, I think I’ll invest in sack cloth and ashes!
I love a guilt-ridden, self-loather. They so much fun at parties. But one who wants to take the blame for all manner of things they had nothing to do with takes a special kind of braggadocio. Were you liable for the Hindenburg, too, dear?