So I was asked through a comment on my video on YouTube: “why can’t people cosplay black characters?” The person who commented was very curious and I wanted to make sure I gave an accurate reason without being rude.
Want to know the video in question?
CLICK HERE to see. It’s not long at all.
One thing I do have to remember is that most Gen Z don’t know about the topic of Blackface and the offensive part to it.
The history behind the practice of blackfacing, and other forms of racefacing, is an ugly one.
Blackface isn’t just about painting one’s skin darker or putting on a costume. It invokes a racist and painful history. It will always be linked to hatred, mimicry, and exclusion. Intent does not matter. This began nearly 200 years (or around the 19th century) since white performers first started painting their faces black to mock enslaved black people in minstrel shows across the United States.
The White performers would darken their skin with polish and cork, put on tattered clothing and exaggerated their features to look stereotypically “black.”
And because as black people, we were really considered below the “bottom of the barrel” to the white people.
Today, its racist history is often swept under the rug or shrouded in claims of ignorance and a lot of people seem it acceptable yet were criticized when we cosplay other characters.
Blackface, or any other racial variation of the practice, for cosplay is not ok with me. It’s not ok with many people. As a black cosplayer, I have cosplayed characters of various colors, and people know who I am. I’ve never once had to change my skin color to cosplay a white character.
Defending, excusing, or ignoring the issues surrounding blackface and other “race face” in the cosplay community does not create the welcoming, accepting, “cosplay is for everyone” environment.
Nobody’s actual skin tone should ever be used as a prop or a costume, and that goes for people of color, who have had their humanity stripped and mocked throughout history while white people slathered themselves in brown and yellow paint for fun and profit.
Racism is not always blatant acts of hatred. It is not crossburning and “Whites Only” signs. More often than not, in todays society, racism is the casual dismissal of people of color. It is telling black people, darker skinned people, Asian people, etc. they are “just overreacting” in the face of offense and disrespect. It is disregard for decency and willful ignorance because you feel your desire to treat skin like a prop is more important than the cultural and racial impact blackfacing, brownfacing, and other forms of “racefacing” have.
Hope this helps a little. There’s so much on this topic that people are so ignorant on.
More resources on the history of black/race-facing can be found here:
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