'Blacking up' festival-goers face police race inquiry

[T_i_B]

I'm suprised nobody has raised the alarm bells about this sooner personally. Make of this what you will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/25/nblack25.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/02/25/ixportal.html

Organisers of a centuries- old Cornish festival known as Darkie Days, in which locals "black up" and tour the town of Padstow singing minstrel-style songs, could be prosecuted for an offence under the Race Relations Act.

A file on this year's event, together with video footage taken by police during a surveillance operation, has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service to assess whether a crime, including inciting racial hatred, has been committed.

Linda Reynolds, 50, who runs a newsagent in Padstow, said there was "no trace" of racism. She said: "I have always gone out to Darkie Day. It's a tradition I grew up with. If it was even vaguely racist I would be the first one to stand up and shout about it. I used to have a relationship with a black man.

"I can't think of anybody who has a racist thought on Darkie Day. It's a traditional event where people get blacked-up faces. They are not imitating black people."

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Whaaaaa?

"I can't think of anybody who has a racist thought on Darkie Day."

For starters, how about the name "Darkie Day?":eyes:

[depakid]

2. It's Cornwall, for God sakes

There are all sorts of strange old traditions in Britain and weird names for things. I seriously doubt that anyone believe this festival to be racist- Brits have much better race relations among their citizens than Americans do. Totally different atmosphere-

[eShirl]

3. well, what about the minstrel songs?

I'm unclear whether the story means the kind of songs used in American minstrel shows, or songs an ancient Cornish minstrel might sing?

[Mr Creosote]

9. Certainly nothing to do

with American minstrel shows. I'm in Cornwall and these traditions are REALLY old - predate Columbus I should think. As to whether this one is racist - goodness knows what the intention might have been when it started, but I doubt very much if anyone has ever thought of it as racist nowadays. Most of these things are just an excuse for a piss-up.

We have a thing here called "Hal-an-tow" where the villains are the Spainiards. This isn't anti todays Spain - it just reflects the fact that in the middle ages Spanish pirates used to raid Cornwall. I don't think you can view century's old traditions in a 21st century light.

[T_i_B]

4. Just because we have different tradions...

...does not mean that these are not sometimes racist traditions. Unfortunately racism exists everywhere.

The one that I have come across is morris dancers with blacked up faces. Why I do not know, and I for one am not convinced that morris dancers blacking up their faces is not racist.

[KittyWampus]

6. Blackface Morris Dancers

BLACKFACE MORRIS
Possibly the oldest form of Morris dancing and the most like the original pre-Christian dances. The black face may depict Moors or Arabs and may be the origin of the word Morris or "Moorish" or may be to give dancers anonymity and therefore add mystery. As the pagan origins of this style of dancing were more obvious the church and state did their best to suppress it.


On the one hand the earliest documentation of Morris dancing dates to the later Crusades... so that would support the theory that the dance relates to stuff brought back from the Near East...

On the other hand, there are pictoral references to what appear to be Morris dancing and Sword dancing of one sort or other going back much farther.

Also, rituals where participants dress in clothing with fringes hanging off... and soundmakers... and paint on your face... goes back into prehistory and shamanism.

[saigon68]

15. In Japan, "Darkie" with its image of a wide eyed, big lipped African male

It may get your teeth whiter than white, but Darkie toothpaste has all the racial sensitivity of a Bosnian Serb.

What's worse, it's from Indonesia - a nation that prides itself on strength through racial diversity.

[whistle]

5. Denial is not a river in Egypt...

[sportndandy]

7. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

and thats how I would take it.

The UK may have its share of racism, but it is not the virulent bigotry which exists just below the surface of our American civility.

Also, a hate crime should probably include some kind of measurable damage, not merely the potential to offend someone.

[Inland]

8. If its "centuries old", then it isn't a minstrel show.

That's an American form and not even centuries old.

My thought is that if you have to guess where it came from, it isn't racist. Weird and purposeless, maybe.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. Minstrelsy is at least as old as dynastic Egypt

European minstrelsy was dominated by Gypsies and Jews. The domination of American comedy, cinema and music by Jewish people is a hold-over from ghetto life.

Performing in blackface was something else entirely, and legends of magical creatures with black skin in pre-date the Indo-European invasion; this was Christianized in one form as Black Marias, and is commonly associated with Polish Roman Catholics. Marija Gimbutas discusses this in some depth in her work.

I doubt that the thing in Cornwalls is racist, but it's good that people in England are "civilized" enough to discuss it without blaming the performers for the slave trade or whining about being persecuted by "Political Correctness".

--p!

[KittyWampus]

11. How Very Interesting.Glad I Came Bck & Checked This Thread. Thanks!

[T_i_B]

12. "whining about being persecuted by Political Correctness"?

I don't think you could be more wrong on that front. PC bashing is very much alive and well in the UK and if you don't belive me then try reading some British tabloids such as The Sun or the Daily Mail who are full of PC bashing on a daily basis.

Indeed this article is from the Telegraph, a right wing broadsheet and I'm surpised nobody has taken me to task for using the Torygraph as my source here. The Telegraph is not above PC bashing itself.

[depakid]

13. The Telegraph has OK articles once in a while

The Sun, Star or Mirror it ain't!

(British Tabloids are amusing in a way- they tend to take themselves much more seriously than crap like the National Enquirer).

[T_i_B]

14. That's true

I'm quite fond of Telegraph articles really, and I do like to post stuff from there.

I do however tend to draw the line at tabloids of all political persuations.