Quote:
Originally Posted by sealbeater
There was never a time in history that blackface wasn't insulting to Black people.
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Simon Winchester doesn't completely agree with you, or disagree. Did you watch the video? It's an excellent look at this part of this issue.
There were a lot of people who said that Amos and Andy was insulting to blacks; so many that it was taken off the air, including reruns. Then, a decade later black people and others began to realize that it was part of how whites began to perceive blacks as fully human.
Some say that the foolish character of Kingfish was insulting to blacks. Another show around the same time, almost as popular a show for almost as long, both radio and TV, was The Life of Riley, and the main character was even more foolish. And then there was Archie Bunker?
These things aren't stereotypes of blacks or of whites. They're mocking the foolishness in all of us in exaggerated fashion and it's good for us. Leaving blacks out of that is what would be insulting. What we're missing is a show with an oriental fool. We've had shows (Jack Benny) with Jewish fools.
Barry