stephen matlock
Nov 4 · 1 min read

Also take a look at the black & white film “Holiday Inn,” with a blackface number in it “Abraham.” The remake, “White Christmas,” used the song as an underlying tune. They just can’t quit the blackface routines.

I watched “Holiday Inn” on TV when it was shown, and of course they’d cut that number. When I got the DVD and watched it, I think I sat there with my mouth wide open.

It wasn’t a question of “What were they thinking?” I know what they were thinking — that this was just good clean fun which was making fun of Black Americans.

The problem with blackface is not only the direct insult to people who have meaning and worth. The problem is that it exists in a world that considers blackface an acceptable form of costume, and that the same world still exists. We permit and excuse it because we are the ones who can do it, and we can claim we “mean no harm,” when what we mean is “look what we can do and get away with.”

    stephen matlock

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    Writer and observer, sometimes doer. Fiat justitia ruat cælum. More at stephenmatlock.com OR twitter.com/stephenmatlock OR facebook.com/stephenmatlock