It's After Halloween, So OF COURSE We Have To Talk About Law Professors Wearing Blackface

Don't wear blackface. Ever. IT IS NEVER OKAY.

What every white person in blackface always looks like, every time, forever.

What every white person in blackface always looks like, every time, forever.

Don’t wear blackface. Ever. IT IS NEVER OKAY. Why is it so hard for people to follow this simple rule? Who are these intellectual moths who find themselves drawn to the flame of wearing blackface?

Let’s say you wear it and you get away with it. Let’s say that it doesn’t offend people and it doesn’t end up on the internet and it doesn’t put your career at risk. WHAT HAVE YOU WON? Is there a secret billionaire who runs around giving out PRIZES to white people who wear blackface? WHAT POSSIBLE UPSIDE IS THERE IN THIS? What creatively bankrupt costume are you wearing where you need the blackface to really pull it off?

The dean of the University of Oregon Law School, the provost of the University of Oregon, and even the president of the University — Michael Schill, former dean of the University of Chicago Law School — sent out a school-wide letter yesterday after a law professor was spied at an off-campus event wearing blackface.

Students, Faculty, and Staff,

The University of Oregon has been made aware that a faculty member of the School of Law wore a costume that included blackface at a private, off-campus Halloween party that was attended by UO faculty members and students.

We condemn this action unequivocally as anathema to the University of Oregon’s cherished values of racial diversity and inclusion. The use of blackface, even in jest at a Halloween party, is patently offensive and reinforces historically racist stereotypes. It was a stupid act and is in no way defensible.

How is this still an email that needs to be written in 2016? Seriously, HOW? HOW IS THIS STILL A THING?

And what comes next is also frustrating.

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At a minimum, it illustrates the need for more training and dialogue on these critical issues. In support of this dialogue, the Division of Equity and Inclusion created a UO African American Workshop and Lecture Series to help increase understanding. Implicit bias training is now required for all faculty searches and this winter new trainings on micro-aggressions will be offered. We will continue to assess other trainings or opportunities we can employ to further educate our community.

Sure, training is good and all, but… we really need workshops to explain that BLACKFACE IS A BAD IDEA? It’s like going to a parenting seminar to hear “strategies” for keeping your kid from locking himself in the oven. “I hear what you are saying, but my kid doesn’t do that because… HE IS NOT A DROOLING LEMUR WITH A HEROIN PROBLEM!”

Are there really Oregon LAW professors who need MORE DIALOGUE on this issue?

“What would you need to dress up as this person?”
“BLACKFACE!”
“No.”
“A black prosthetic penis?”
“No.”
“Lip enhancements?”
“… can anybody name some non-racial attributes of Barack Obama?”

I’ve got a way to solve this problem. Halloween should be banned until white people grow up. If you can’t play with it properly, then we need to put it on the shelf until y’all learn how to respect your toys.

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See the full letter on the next page.

UPDATE (11/3/2016, 12:15 p.m.): A little more background, from the Register-Guard:

A fellow UO professor, who declined to be identified, said the offending professor meant her costume to depict “Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine,” a recent autobiography by Dr. Damon Tweedy that recounts the racism he encountered in medical school.

Witnesses, who included students and faculty, said she was showing partygoers Tweedy’s book.

UPDATE (11/7/2016, 12:35 p.m.): Here are thoughts from Dean Vikram Amar on the controversy over the costume of the professor (who has been identified in media reports as Nancy Shurtz).


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. White people know they make MASKS right? Like, I went as Oscar the Grouch, and I didn’t need to paint my face green or stitch fur and trash into my face.