From Blackface To Blackfishing

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Okay, news cycle: you win. We're talking about blackface. This week, we delve into the hidden history of "blackening up" in popular culture — from a certain iconic cartoon mouse's minstrel past to Instagram models trying to pass as black.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Code Switch, I'm Jean Dumbi.
0:02.2	Shereen is our reporter this week.
0:04.8	Alright, Charles, so you know how we said last week that we were not going to talk about
0:09.5	blackface.
0:10.5	We said that.
0:11.5	We did say that.
0:12.5	Because what else is it to say about it, right?
0:13.5	Besides, why the hell are people still doing this?
0:15.8	Well, these last few news cycles, they have been a hydrant.
0:20.6	Luxury fashion brand Gucci stopped selling a sweater after criticism that it resembled
0:25.3	blackface.
0:26.3	In a pair of shoes, Yandoff shelves after she says she was saddened when they were compared
0:31.0	to blackface.
0:32.0	Virginia's Democratic governor apologized for this yearbook photo.
0:36.9	The photo shows one person in blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan robe.
0:42.7	The governor told prominent Democrats this morning he now believes he is not in the picture.
0:47.1	Northam alluded to other actions in his past, saying in 1984, he won a dance contest
0:52.9	where he wore dark shoe polish on his face.
0:55.2	Well, as that plays out, the state's attorney general Mark Herring revealing that he, like
0:59.5	the state's governor, appeared in blackface while in college.
1:02.8	In a statement, you win.
1:04.4	You win.
	...

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